‘Everyone has a story.’ Through oral history project, those from KC can share theirs

This summer, Kansas City residents will have the opportunity to record their own oral histories and submit them to the Library of Congress.

The chance will come as part of StoryCorps, a 15-year-old project started by NPR radio producer David Isay that helps Americans of all backgrounds document their stories or those of their family and friends.

To reach as many people as possible, the organization travels the country in a converted Airstream trailer called the MobileBooth, stopping at 10 locations throughout the course of a year and staying at each one for four weeks at a time.

From Aug. 2 to Sept. 2, the MobileBooth will be at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

“The idea is to create spaces where people can sit down with someone they care about or are curious about and have an intentional conversation. We consider it a public service,” said Danielle Andersen, an associate director for StoryCorps.

“We’re very excited about this stop,” Andersen said. “We like to look for places where we could fit into the community.”

When the MobileBooth came to Kansas City in 2006, Andersen said StoryCorps was impressed with the atmosphere of KC, and the number of people who wanted to record.

StoryCorps gets around 135 to 155 recordings at each stop. Sign-ups, taken on a first-come, first-served basis, will open July 19 in Kansas City.

Conversations are recorded for 40 minutes by trained StoryCorps employees. After that, participants have the option of keeping the tape for themselves, giving it to StoryCorps to archive at the Library of Congress for future generations to listen to, or allowing for general release, which means StoryCorps can use and share it, whether for training purposes or for use on public radio stations like NPR.

“It’s 100 percent up to the participant,” Andersen said. “Anyone can bring whomever they want and talk about whatever they want when they get there. We’re just there to facilitate.”

She said that StoryCorps is expecting Kansas City’s stop to be very busy, and warned of a limited number of spots.

“Your life is important and so are your memories and experiences,” she said. “If you record them, others will be able to learn from you.”

That’s why StoryCorps tries to pick new stops every year on the MobileBooth tour: to make sure people of all backgrounds are represented.

Andersen said they get a variety of people, from youth wanting to hear the life stories of their great-grandparents to expectant parents wanting to record their hopes and dreams for their new baby. Others bring siblings, friends, coworkers or just someone they admire.

“It’s a really special thing for people to have,” Andersen said. “Some people might be hesitant. They’ll say ‘well I don’t have anything to talk about,’ but that’s not true. Everyone has a story.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2018 at 4:41 PM.