A tailored intergenerational historic snapshot message informs a younger person about the world an older person lived in when they were young. The older person's age and the younger person's age are used to identify a historic time period in which the older person was the same age as the younger person. A circumstance which occurred in the historic time period is selected from a database or web search result. The message is tailored to the ages of the people involved. The message may also be tailored to recite circumstances specific to a topic area or a geographic location.