Our mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.
Since 2003, over 50,000 people have shared life stories with family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on public radio and the web.
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Find our locations, reserve a time, prepare for your session, ask great questions.
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What people are saying.
“I am so grateful to have done this. Everyone should do StoryCorps, because we don't live forever.”
“StoryCorps is a gift. It allowed me to capture an essential part of someone I love and respect. Like lightning bugs in a jar, it is a simple yet a small miracle.”
“What StoryCorps has done for my mother's sense of self-worth cannot be measured in this thank you.”
“You'll laugh, cry and think. These stories come from the souls of individual Americans. Collectively, they are who we are as a people.”
“This project makes it possible to connect the past present and future, which is all we have. What can be more exciting than that?”
“The StoryCorps project may well be the most important cultural event in America today. It's about us. About who we are. About where we've come from, and where we want to go.”
“I was sick; I had no job; I was lonely—and then Felix called me.”
Rob Sanchez (R) and his friend Felix Aponte (L), who both served time at Sing Sing Penitentiary, talk about Rob's diagnosis with an aggressive form of kidney disease.
Recorded in New York, NY
1/17/2010 — Sandy Birnbaum, who recorded StoryCorps interview #1 in 2003, died today at the age of 95. Sandy was a man who never made headlines, but he lived a life of quiet dignity and kindness that touched all who knew him. Read about Sandy in an excerpt from Dave Isay’s Listening Is an Act of Love. StoryCorps mourns his loss.
StoryCorps Historias is recording the stories of Latinos across the United States. Learn more about how you can become a part of this groundbreaking project.
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