Deputy Librarian of Congress Donald Scott, and his wife, Betty, record their stories in the StoryCorps recording booth outside of the Library in May. - Steve Winick
The importance of storytelling and the oral tradition is memorialized inside and at the very entrance of the Library of Congress. In a sculptural relief by Olin L. Warner, above one of the great bronze doors at the front of the Library's 1897 Jefferson Building, a woman tells stories to the child on her lap, while an American Indian, a Norseman, a prehistoric man and a shepherd listen. Just off the Great Hall in the vestibule to the Main Reading Room, in a series of paintings illustrating the evolution of the book, an Arab storyteller relates his marvelous tales to a group seated around him.
After a year on the road, starting out from the Library of Congress in Washington, and traveling to nearly 45 cities, one of two Airstream trailers equipped with recording studios returned to the Library to celebrate the first year of the national tour of StoryCorps. The three-year-old project is the brainchild of David Isay, an award-winning radio producer and MacArthur Fellow. The project is designed to encourage ordinary Americans from all parts of the United States to interview their friends and family and preserve the stories, both for themselves and for the national library. With the permission of the participants, the oral histories that StoryCorps collects are given in digital form to the American Folklife Center (AFC) in the Library of Congress.
For 10 days, beginning May 18, 2006, tourists and Washington-area residents were invited to visit the mobile recording booths outside the Library of Congress to tell their stories and make recordings for their own and the nation's archival record. The American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress (AFC) archives digital copies of the StoryCorps recordings, made both in New York City, where two stationary booths are located, and in the two mobile trailers that have been on the road.
"We are pleased to support the work of StoryCorps and welcome the StoryCorps mobile recording booth back to the Library of Congress after one year on the road," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "The mission of the Library of Congress is to preserve the history and creativity of the American people, and these firsthand accounts of family and friends giving voice to the things that matter most to them are a vital part of that record."
"Recordings made 75 years ago by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project, and by other agencies, organizations and private individuals, are among the treasures of the AFC's Archive of Folk Culture," said AFC Director Peggy Bulger. "The sound of the human voice, the intonation, the regional accent, convey a sense of the time, place and individual personality in a way no historical document alone can duplicate. With these present-day, StoryCorps recordings we are preserving a sound portrait of everyday life in the United States that is likely to become one of the archival treasures of the future."
Robert Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project; Peggy Bulger, director of the American Folklife Center; and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.), chief sponsor of the legislation creating the Veterans History Project, at the StoryCorps site in front of the Library's Madison Building discussed the importance of oral history and preserving the stories of family and friends. - Steve Winick
On the road during the past year, the mobile recording booths set up shop for a week or two in a particular city or town, and StoryCorps facilitators recorded about 100 interviews at each location. Reservations for interviews were gone a few hours after they became available, and more than 6,000 recordings were made. In each case, for a small fee, participants received a CD copy of the interview.
Justina Mejias has been with the project as a facilitator from the start.
"We coach people on how to listen," she said. "People are often nervous about making a recording for themselves and the Library of Congress, and we help them to feel comfortable in the recording studio."
According to Mejias, people take the experience very seriously, and the studio becomes a "sacred space" as questions are asked and feelings erupt that perhaps neither participant had heard before or expected.
"The interaction that begins in the booth often continues throughout the day, and on into the future," she said.
"The biggest change this year is that we don't have to explain who we are any more," said StoryCorps advance coordinator Eliza Bettinger.
"A year ago, we had zero visibility," added Isay. "This past year, when we pulled into town in Missoula, Montana, people on the street waved and applauded."
This change can be explained in three words: National Public Radio (NPR). Beginning a year ago, selected recordings have been broadcast every Friday morning on NPR's Morning Edition.
"There has been an enormous response to the programs," said Executive Producer Ellen McDonnall. "All those wonderful regional accents remind us what a rich country this is," added Morning Edition Managing Editor Barbara Rehm.
Rep. Melvin L. Watt (D-N.C.) was one of the first to record an interview on the plaza in front of the James Madison Building of the Library of Congress. To conduct the interview, he brought along his executive assistant, Melissa Williamson, who is also his cousin.
At the invitation of Representative Watt, the Librarian of Congress and members of the American Folklife Center staff attended the 100th reunion of Watt's extended family in Charlotte and Shelby, N.C., last August. At the reunion, the Library team heard and recorded many stories of this close-knit family, which traces its ancestry to the seven daughters of Sylvia, or Sily, Fulenwider, a woman who, by one account, might have been a tribal princess. Following the StoryCorps interview, Williamson reported that the chief topic of conversation was, not surprisingly, "our feelings about family."
In underscoring the value of the StoryCorps project, Deputy Librarian of Congress Donald Scott said, "Along with the Library's Veterans History Project, it is an important vehicle for letting everyone know about the realities of our society. [Both projects collect] the real life experiences of real people and give a real appreciation of who we are."
Scott interviewed his wife of 44 years, Betty. The couple met in junior high school in Hannibal, Mo., where Scott was bused to the school nearest to his hometown that was open to African Americans. After graduating from high school, both attended Lincoln University, in Jefferson City, Mo., which was founded in 1866, following the Civil War, with contributions from soldiers of the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantries assigned by Fort Macintosh, Texas, and with the help of their white lieutenant, a New Englander from Connecticut, Richard Foster.
"How's that for an American story?" asked the retired general.
The Scotts talked about the family values they have shared from the start and the importance of good manners and mutual respect, lessons they are teaching their grandchildren.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," ought to be the guiding principle of life, they agreed. "The golden rule is especially important today," said Donald Scott, "as we move from place to place, and our families and communities are not as close-knit as they used to be."
W. Ralph Eubanks, the Library's director of publishing, has researched his family history, in part on behalf of his children and in part to answer his own questions about what it was like to grow up African American in a small Mississippi town during the 1960s and '70s. The result was a memoir titled "Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi's Dark Past," published in 2003.
Eubanks conducted a StoryCorps interview with his mother, Lucille Eubanks, and asked her to describe the place where she grew up, Prestwick, Ala.
"There are things that happen in the recording booth," he said. "It is quiet, secluded, comfortable. People say things they might not talk about in a family setting. I heard new stories I had not heard before. My mother does not usually let her guard down, but she knew that [the StoryCorps recording] was something that would be there after she is gone."
Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) understands the importance of oral history. He was the chief sponsor of the legislation creating the Veterans History Project. His uncle served in the Pacific during World War II and his father is a veteran of the Korean War. Kind wanted to ensure that their stories and those of the thousands of others who served would not be lost.
"It is important to preserve our history and heritage," he said, "and given the availability of technology, it is easy now for everyone to make these recordings."
Kind was interviewed for the StoryCorps project by Bulger, who focused on his political career. He told her he welcomes the periodic elections for congressional seats because "the people are the ultimate referees in a democracy" and there is an opportunity to review priorities.
"Running for office is all about the people and listening to them," he said.
"We tell ourselves stories in order to live," wrote author Joan Didion at the beginning of her essay "The White Album." Didion's provocative claim refers to the way people attempt to make sense of the welter of words and images with which they are bombarded every day, by constantly shuffling and organizing the data, making up fictions, telling and retelling stories about themselves, their friends and their experiences.
