I haven't prompted or prodded many old-timers, but I enjoy hearing them reminisce about life when they were young men and women. There's something about the lifestyle of past generations that fascinates people. Run an old photograph in this paper, for example, and reader interest will be high.
People like to see old pictures and they literally eat up old-time tales.
Understanding or explaining this interest is impossible. Like most people I like to look at old photos and artifacts and I enjoy old-time accounts. I can't tell you why. I've never been able to fathom why these things are fascinating, so there's no way I can explain why others have the same interest. Obviously it's difficult for people today to truly prove life was simpler and better in earlier times.