Newspaper Page Text
StoryCorps celebrates 20 years
of recording American tales
f . \jj
'^!g§
W
9
By Joe Earle
Outsiders may regularly describe
StoryCorps as a giant oral history project
capturing snapshots of American life in the
21st Century, but Daniel Horowitz Garcia
doesn’t. He says what StoryCorps does is
right there in its name. It collects stories.
“At its best,” said Horowitz, who heads
the nonprofit’s Atlanta office, “StoryCorps
is two people who know each other having
a conversation about something that’s
important to them.”
Horowitz believes that studying history
requires something more than just recording
memories. It’s something a historian does; it’s
active, not passive. StoryCorps’ storytellers
describe events as they recall them, not
as a historian records them or interprets
them. Doing history requires comparing
memories to recorded facts. Sometimes what
people forget can be as interesting as what
they remember about an event, he said. At
StoryCorps, “we talk to people with direct
knowledge of the past,” he said. “We don’t
critically engage with the past.
Horowitz has thought this through. The
amiable 53-year-old is a historian himself He
trained at Georgia State University in how
to collect and analyze the facts of history,
including the personal interviews used in oral
history. For the past nine years, he’s worked
at StoryCorps’ Atlanta branch, where he’s
now regional manager.
StoryCorps is probably best known for
brief conversations broadcast regularly on
National Public Radio. The organization
started 20 years ago in New York. It has
spent the past couple of decades gathering,
recording, and archiving people’s life stories.
The nonprofit’s recordings are filed in
the Library of Congress and the snippets
played on NPR as just a small part of the
organization’s library of recorded stories,
which usually last 40 minutes apiece.
StoryCorps does talk to lots of people,
or at least listens as they talk to one another.
The organization says it has recorded
conversations among more than 630,000
people. Participants, usually chatting in pairs,
talk about their lives, memories, thoughts,
philosophies, relationships. The nonprofit has
programs to actively pursue life stories from
members of groups that sometimes have been
overlooked by past historians. StoryCorps
claims its online archive is “the largest single
collection of human voices ever gathered.”
In 2009, StoryCorps came to Atlanta in
a partnership with WABE radio that created
one of three regional StoryBooths in the
country. Then, 10 years ago, StoryCorps
opened a permanent recording booth at the
Atlanta History Center to capture stories
from Southern states. It opened similar
booths in cities from New York to Chicago
to San Francisco and other cities, although
most now have closed. StoryCorps reports its
Atlanta-based operation has recorded more
than 5,500 conversations.
“The StoryCorps partnership greatly
benefits from this high-profile and easily
accessible public site for the recording booth,”
a spokesperson wrote in an email, “and being
situated within a site that serves as a historic
resource reflects StoryCorps’ own mission,
too, and reflects the historical importance of
the stories we record. The unique offerings
and location of the complex have helped
expand StoryCorps’ reach to visitors, many of
whom may have never heard of StoryCorps.”
Horowitz says the organization’s
recordings provide snapshots of personal
history that historians can study, but also
offer a way for families to pass their stories
from generation to generation. “I see what we
do as a historical service, but also as a family
service,” he said.
Some of those moments might otherwise
be lost, he said. In StoryCorps sessions, he’s
heard World War II veterans talk about their
time at war, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention employees recount their front-line
response to deadly disease, and an Atlanta
academic who studied prostitutes describe the
spread of AIDS in the 1970s.
People’s stories are the stuff of history, and
StoryCorps wants to help keep stories around
for the future. “It’s a big deal for people that
your story is part of the Library of Congress,”
Horowitz said. “It becomes part of the official
story of the United States of America.”
For more, visit storycorps.org
Atlanta Fine
Homes
Sotheby's
INTERNATIONAL REALTY
In Loving Memory
George T. Heery, Jr.
October 23,1967 - June 25,2023
Founding Partner, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty
Heery Brothers, Buckhead Office
Atlanta Fine Homes, LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.
Each franchise is independently owned and operated.
MEDLOlOK
$36.95 Service Package (Reg $101,951
Valued At $49.95
Cannot Be Combined With Any Other Offer. Must Present Coupon
Free for the first 25 people. Expires 7/31/23
Indudes Oil Change, Tire Rotation & 27 Point Safety
Inspection. Valued at $101.95
Does not include synthetic oil/some filters extra.
Expires 7/31/23
$36.95
Service Package
HYBRIDSHOP*
The Hybrid Pros
Call for an appointment! Monday-Friday 8-6 • Saturday 8-3
404.377.2285 1489 Scott Boulevard MedlockGulf.com
RoughDraftAtlanta.com
JULY 2023 | 27