StoryCorps, a national initiative to document everyday history and the unique stories of America, will arrive on Monday, April 14 to collect the stories of our region’s residents as part of the program’s cross-country tour.

The StoryCorps Mobile Booth, an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio, will be in Sacramento from April 14 through May 10. The exact location of the Mobile Booth will be at the Central Library on 9th Street between I and J Streets. StoryCorps plans on collecting 125 interviews during its stay in Sacramento.

Residents are urged to visit capradio.org/storycorps to make their interview appointment and listen to excerpts of other stories told in the Mobile Booth. Each interview will last approximately 40 minutes, and there is a suggested $10 donation to StoryCorps for each interview. Interviews will begin in the Mobile Booth on Thursday, April 17.

Preserving Personal History
StoryCorps was created by award-winning documentary producer and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Dave Isay. This unprecedented project has traveled to every corner of America, instructing and inspiring individuals to record their stories in sound. StoryCorps is the largest multi-year oral history project ever undertaken. Since its launch in October 2003, StoryCorps’ two mobile and two stationary recording studios have visited 66 cities in 43 states and collected more than 10,000 stories.

In Sacramento, StoryCorps is partnering with Capital Public Radio, Sacramento’s NPR station, which will air a selection of the local stories and create special programs around the project. Selected segments will also air nationally on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

At the MobileBooth, people participate in pairs – oftentimes friends or loved ones – and one interviews the other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and handles the technical aspects of the recording.

At the end of a 40-minute session, the participants walk away with a CD of their interview. With their permission, a second copy will be sent to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress where it becomes part of a high quality digital archive.

This collection will eventually grow into an oral history of America. Locally, with additional permission, another copy of each CD will reside in the Sacramento Room at the Sacramento Public Library.

“As StoryCorps has traveled across the country… we’ve seen the profound effect it has had not only on the lives of those who have participated in the project, but also on the millions who have heard them each week on NPR,” said Isay. “We are so proud to continue our mission to teach people to become better listeners, foster intergenerational communication among families and communities and help Americans appreciate the strength in the stories of everyday people they find all around them.”

Story Behind the StoryCorps
StoryCorps opened its first StoryBooth, a freestanding soundproof recording studio, in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in October 2003 and in June 2005 opened its second StoryBooth at the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

Individuals can listen to excerpts from past StoryCorps interviews at www.storycorps.nett.