Keeping Memories Alive

As part of its cross-country MobileBooth tour, StoryCorps will be making its way to Kansas City on September 9 and staying through October 2. The MobileBooth, an Airstream trailer with a recording studio, will be parked in the Brookside area at 63rd Street and Brookside Boulevard.

For those of you who don’t know what StoryCorps is, it’s a national, nonprofit organization that started in 2003 and is solely dedicated to recording, preserving and sharing American stories — from all walks of life — which are housed in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, with participants’ permission, for future generations.

Whether it’s a recorded conversation between a son and his grandmother asking about her childhood or a couple reminiscing about their 50th wedding anniversary, a trained StoryCorps facilitator guides participants through an interview process that lasts about 40 minutes, and each participant receives a complimentary copy. Some of these inspirational, emotional and ever-lasting bits of history air on NPR’s Morning Edition. StoryCorps also has published two books: Listening Is an Act of Love (2007) and Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps (2010) — both are New York Times bestsellers.

If you’re interested in recording your own part of history while StoryCorps is in town, call their 24-hour toll-free reservation hotline at 1.800.850.4406 or visit their website at www.storycorps.org to sign up. Other appointments will be available at 10 a.m. on September 10. Also, check the website for stationary centers and ways you can donate to keep this a free public service.

“…StoryCorps aims to create a growing portrait of who we are as Americans,” the website states. “By traveling to every corner of the country, StoryCorps currently has one of the largest collections of American voices ever gathered, with interviews collected from more than 60,000 Americans in all 50 states.”