Oral history project rolls into town
StoryCorps, a national initiative to document everyday history and the unique stories of America, will arrive on the Palouse Thursday, Aug., 25. Washington State University’s Northwest Public Radio will host the effort to collect the stories of area residents.
StoryCorps is the largest oral history project ever undertaken, with more than 2,000 stories already collected from the project’s first year and plans to collect more than 250,000 interviews over the next decade. Find out more at http://www.storycorps.net.
“This project will provide a valuable historic archive for the people of the Palouse,” said Northwest Public Radio Manager Roger Johnson. “This is a rich region: rich in history, community and landscape. We’re not surprised it was selected from thousands of places around the country.”
Northwest Public Radio will air a selection of the local stories and create special programs around the project. Selected segments recorded in other StoryCorps locations already are airing nationally on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
The StoryCorps mobile recording booth, contained in a specially outfitted Airstream trailer, will be parked on Main Street in Moscow near Friendship Square until Sept. 5.
People participate in pairs and one interviews the other. A trained facilitator guides participants through the interview process and handles technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a 40-minute session, participants walk away with a CD of their interview.
With their permission, copies will be archived at Latah and Whitman county historical societies and at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
