What would your recommendations be to an amateur historian doing a local investigation?

by SocratesTheBest

I am starting a project in which I wanna dig up the history of my family during the last 200 years, possibly up until the Napoleonic Annexation of Catalonia and the Peninsular War (I am from Catalonia, in Spain). I know it is a hard task, and most probably I will have to end it sooner, at the end of the 19th century (with my grandparents' grandparents). Still, I wanna learn of the History of my family and be able to place it in the historical context of the region: how the context affected them and how they reflected the context. In the end, my goal is to be able to write a book (or books) about it.

I am not here asking for sources, I already asked some local history professors about them. Of course, if you had any idea of good sources for the 1800-1970 period in Catalonia, they will be more than welcome, but that is not why I made this post.

I made this post to hear tips and recommendations on how to make a historical investigation. Let me start by presenting you my plan of action, so you can see where I am and give me some criticism.

I am interviewing my grandparents, to know about all they can recall of their ancestors.
This interviews I later transcribe for future reference and investigation. I tried some software but it didn't work very well so I started doing it by hand, which is a very lengthy process. For every hour recorded, I spend 3 to 4h in transcription. I wonder if you knew some alternative to work with personal interviews.
I collect personal documents my family has in storage, like photos, birth certificates, ID cards, property bills and maps, business documents, letters, etc.
I will go and check out the county and municipal archives, maybe the provincial archive too. In this step I literally have no idea on how to work in an archive, and if they let amateur historians in to investigate. What things may I find in these archives? How should I search for things? What should I be looking for?
I will inform myself of the local historical context they lived through, as explained.
At this point, with all recollected information, I should start writing about it. I still don’t know which format I should use. Chronological? By family member? By topic? How to separate the things that matter with the things that don’t? How to reference personal documents and interviews?

That is my plan. It is a very broad painting of it, but it serves the purpose.

Now, I’d love to hear some of the recommendations that you, other amateur or professional historians here, might have that could help me. Recommendations based on your experience or knowledge will be deeply appreciated.

Sounds like a fun project!

With regards to several of the points you raise:

Oral interviews. Transcription is indeed a pain, but remember that you are doing this for your own purposes - you might not need a full transcription of everything. You can take your own notes while listening, and only write down full quotes when you think they will be needed when it comes to writing up. But if you have decided you want full transcripts, then yes, there isn't really a better way that slowly writing them out (or paying someone else to do it).
Archives. Perhaps particularly in Spanish archives, you need to make friends with the people who work there. Often the catalogue can be very bad (or only able to be viewed in full on site), so finding specific things, particularly if you're limited in time, can be frustrating. Spending the time to make your project known to the archivists, and asking for advice on the best places to look in their collections, can save a lot of work, though it's still worth following up your own ideas and hunches - archivists don't necessarily know about every single document they have or what might be relevant to you. In my experience, most Spanish archives are a little old-fashioned about taking notes or copying material - expect to have to deal with some pointless rules or restrictions on what they allow. I would imagine that most local or provincial archives would be happy to let you visit (contact them in advance to make sure, or to check if they need ID etc). Military archives can be a bit pickier about who they let in, if that's something you're considering (if you had family who enlisted/were conscripted in the civil war for instance, the local military district archives should have some records for them). Again, contact them in advance to check for sure.
Writing. There is no single answer to this question. History can be written in all the ways you suggest, and more. My best advice is to read widely - you'll need to in order to contextualise your documents anyway - and to reflect on which books you liked and which you didn't, and try to emulate the former. It also depends on your purpose - are you trying to make an argument or convince the reader of something? In that case, use your documents as evidence to prove your case. Are you trying to tell a story? In that case, quote sources in ways that enhances and adds character to the narrative.

I hope this helps! Good luck!