StoryCorps
An American nonprofit that records, preserves, and shares the life stories of everyday people.
Last updated August 22, 2026
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Overview
StoryCorps is an American nonprofit oral-history organization founded in 2003 by radio producer David Isay. It creates opportunities for people to interview someone they know, care about, or wish to understand better, then preserves selected recordings as part of a permanent archive at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. The organization presents its work as a way to strengthen empathy and social connection by making ordinary experiences visible and hearable. The project emerged from Sound Portraits Productions and was inspired in part by the Works Progress Administration’s documentation of American life during the 1930s, as well as by the work of oral historian Studs Terkel. StoryCorps opened its first recording booth in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on October 23, 2003; Terkel participated in the opening ceremony. The organization later expanded its reach through permanent and temporary StoryBooths, mobile recording studios built from converted Airstream trailers, facilitator-led community visits, portable recording kits, and self-guided interview resources. A typical StoryCorps session brings together two people who know each other or share a meaningful connection. A trained facilitator helps them prepare and conducts a structured recording session, generally lasting about 40 minutes. Participants receive a copy of the recording, while a second copy may be deposited with the Library of Congress when permission is granted. Edited excerpts have been broadcast nationally through NPR’s Morning Edition and made available through StoryCorps’s online archive and other digital channels. The organization’s programs have addressed a broad range of experiences, including military service, memory loss, Latino and Puerto Rican identity, African American history, the September 11 attacks, LGBTQ life, mass incarceration, serious illness, education, and political division. Its Great Thanksgiving Listen encourages younger people to record conversations with elders or other influential people. One Small Step, piloted in 2018, brings people with differing political views together for conversations focused on their lives rather than partisan debate. StoryCorps has also developed educational and technology-based offerings. StoryCorpsU uses interviewing, audio production, and reflection activities in secondary schools. The StoryCorps mobile application allows users to record interviews on smartphones, prepare questions, and submit recordings for possible inclusion in the organization’s digital and Library of Congress collections. The organization has published books drawn from its interviews and has received recognition including institutional and program-related Peabody Awards. StoryCorps’s approach has attracted both broad public support and scholarly criticism. Oral historians have questioned the constraints created by prepared questions, a short recording window, facilitator involvement, and editorial selection. Critics argue that these features can produce polished, emotionally legible narratives rather than unrestricted oral histories. A 2016 NPR broadcast based on a StoryCorps interview also prompted criticism of the sympathetic framing of a historical account involving a domestic worker, after which NPR acknowledged that the segment could appear to manufacture a feel-good resolution. Despite these debates, StoryCorps remains an active nonprofit devoted to preserving personal testimony and making human stories accessible to future audiences.
History
StoryCorps grew out of Sound Portraits Productions and was established in 2003 by radio producer David Isay. Its founding concept was to make intimate, carefully recorded conversations between ordinary people part of the historical record. The project drew inspiration from the Works Progress Administration’s 1930s documentation programs and from Studs Terkel’s practice of treating everyday people as important witnesses to social history. The first StoryBooth opened in Grand Central Terminal in New York City on October 23, 2003. The booth gave pairs of participants a quiet setting in which to interview one another with guidance from a trained facilitator. The initial model combined a personal experience with a public archival purpose: participants received a recording, while an additional copy could be preserved at the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center with the speakers’ permission. The first booth later moved to Foley Square in Lower Manhattan in July 2005. StoryCorps expanded geographically through MobileBooths, two recording studios constructed from converted Airstream trailers that began traveling around the country in May 2005. The mobile operation enabled the organization to work with public-radio stations, cultural institutions, and local community groups. Additional stationary booths opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco in 2008, at Atlanta public radio station WABE in 2009, and at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2013. By 2022, the Atlanta booth was described as one of the few still fully operational permanent booths, while mobile and community-based models remained important to the organization’s reach. The organization developed several alternatives for people unable to visit a booth. Its Door-to-Door service sends facilitators to temporary recording sites. StoryKit provides a portable, professional-quality recording device, and the Do-It-Yourself service supplies interview instructions, equipment guidance, and suggested questions for people recording independently. These services broadened StoryCorps from a network of physical sites into a distributed oral-history system. StoryCorps’s archive and public programming grew alongside its recording operations. Selected excerpts were broadcast through NPR’s Morning Edition, and recordings became available through the StoryCorps website and online archive. The organization also created initiatives focused on particular communities and experiences. Military Voices documents post-9/11 veterans, active-duty service members, and their families. The Memory Loss Initiative supports conversations involving people with Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions. Historias focuses on Latino stories in the United States and Puerto Rico, while the Griot Initiative preserves African American voices for the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress. Other programs address September 11, LGBTQ history, mass incarceration, serious illness, and intergenerational memory. Education became another major area of activity. StoryCorpsU, also known as SCU, is a year-long program for ninth- and tenth-grade students that combines language arts, media, and history with interviewing and self-reflection. It is designed to support identity development, social awareness, academic skills, and stronger relationships within schools. The Great Thanksgiving Listen similarly encourages young people to record conversations with elders, mentors, friends, or other people they admire. Technology further extended the organization’s reach. With support from the 2014 Knight Prototype Fund and the 2015 TED Prize, StoryCorps developed a free mobile application. The app helps users prepare questions, improve their recording environment, and upload interviews to the StoryCorps Online Archive. The TED Prize also recognized David Isay’s ambition to encourage meaningful conversations on a global scale, although StoryCorps’s principal archival and programmatic work remains centered on American communities. StoryCorps has been recognized for its contribution to audio and documentary culture. It received an institutional Peabody Award in 2007 and another Peabody in 2011 for its September 11 Initiative. An animated adaptation, Listening Is an Act of Love, was nominated for an Annie Award in 2014. The organization has also published collections including Listening Is an Act of Love, Mom, All There Is, Ties That Bind, and Callings. The project’s highly structured method has generated debate. Some oral historians argue that prepared questions, facilitator involvement, a roughly 40-minute time limit, and later editorial selection encourage compressed and emotionally polished narratives rather than open-ended historical testimony. Critics have also questioned whether the recurring emphasis on survival and personal agency narrows the range of interpretations available to listeners. A 2016 NPR feature intensified discussion about editorial framing when listeners objected to the sympathetic treatment of a man’s late attempt to make amends for a past act involving a domestic worker. NPR acknowledged the criticism and said the segment could come across as an effort to manufacture a feel-good story. These debates notwithstanding, StoryCorps has become a major American institution for collecting born-digital personal testimony and connecting archival preservation with public media.
- 2018
One Small Step pilot
[1]StoryCorps piloted a conversation program intended to connect people with opposing political views through personal storytelling.
- 2015
StoryCorps App development receives major support
[1]The TED Prize and Knight Prototype Fund supported development of StoryCorps’s smartphone recording application.
- 2014
Animated adaptation receives Annie nomination
[1]Listening Is an Act of Love was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production.
- 2013
Chicago StoryBooth opens
[1]A fourth documented StoryBooth opened at the Chicago Cultural Center.
- 2011
Peabody Award for September 11 Initiative
[1]StoryCorps received a second Peabody Award for its September 11 oral-history work.
- 2009
Atlanta StoryBooth opens
[1]A third StoryBooth opened at WABE, Atlanta’s public radio station.
- 2008
San Francisco StoryBooth opens
[1]A StoryBooth opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
- 2007
Institutional Peabody Award
[1]StoryCorps received an institutional Peabody Award recognizing its public-service storytelling work.
- 2005
MobileBooth program begins
[1]Two converted Airstream trailers began traveling through the United States as mobile recording studios.
- 2003
First StoryBooth opens in Grand Central Terminal
[1]StoryCorps began recording interviews publicly at its first booth in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on October 23.
Products and positioning
Cultural preservation, oral history, empathy, and community storytelling
Recording facility · 2003
StoryBooth
StoryBooths are small public recording studios where two participants can conduct a facilitated StoryCorps interview. The first opened in Grand Central Terminal, with later locations in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Chicago. The booth model combines a private conversational setting with an institutional archival workflow and has served as one of the organization’s most recognizable public interfaces.
Mobile recording service · 2005
MobileBooth Tour
The MobileBooth Tour uses converted Airstream trailers as traveling recording studios. StoryCorps brings the units to communities around the United States, generally working with local public-radio stations, cultural institutions, and community organizations. The format allows the organization to collect stories in locations that do not have permanent StoryBooths.
Facilitated recording service
Door-to-Door
Door-to-Door sends StoryCorps facilitators to temporary recording locations around the country. It is intended for communities and partner organizations that need a facilitated interview experience but cannot host participants at a permanent booth or reach them through the mobile units.
Portable recording kit
StoryKit
StoryKit provides participants with a professional-quality portable recording device so they can conduct an interview outside a StoryBooth. It extends StoryCorps’s archival model to homes, community sites, and other locations while retaining a structured approach to recording and submission.
Self-guided oral-history resource
Do-It-Yourself Interview Service
The Do-It-Yourself service provides free instructions for planning and recording an interview independently. Resources include suggested equipment, practical recording advice, step-by-step guidance, and a list of interview questions intended to help participants create meaningful conversations with their own tools.
Mobile application · 2015
StoryCorps App
The StoryCorps App enables users to record interviews with a smartphone. It offers preparation guidance, question prompts, and advice on recording conditions, and allows users to submit interviews to the StoryCorps Online Archive. It was developed with support from the Knight Prototype Fund and the TED Prize.
Digital and institutional archive · 2003
StoryCorps Archive
The StoryCorps Archive preserves recordings and makes selected material available online. With participant permission, a second copy of an interview is deposited at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, creating a long-term institutional record of personal voices from communities across the United States.
Education program
StoryCorpsU
StoryCorpsU is a year-long program for ninth- and tenth-grade students. It combines interviewing techniques, audio and media work, language arts, and history with activities focused on identity, self-awareness, relationships, and future planning. The program is designed to help students connect personal strengths and experiences with academic and college-related goals.
Marketing campaigns
- 2018One Small Step
United States
One Small Step brings people with different political views together for approximately 50-minute conversations about their lives rather than political positions.
Outcome. The pilot established a dialogue-focused format intended to encourage mutual recognition across political differences.
- 2015The Great Thanksgiving Listen
United States
The program encourages people of all ages, particularly younger participants, to interview an elder, mentor, friend, or admired person during the Thanksgiving period.
Outcome. It positioned intergenerational interviewing as a recurring public participation activity.
- 2014Stonewall OutLoud
United States
Stonewall OutLoud seeks to record and preserve a diverse range of LGBTQ stories across the United States.
Outcome. The campaign contributed LGBTQ testimony to the organization’s broader national collection.
- 2010Griot Initiative
United States
The Griot Initiative preserves African American voices and experiences for archival and public-history use.
Outcome. The recordings were designated for preservation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress.
- 2008Historias Initiative
United States · Puerto Rico
Historias collects and shares stories from Latino communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.
Outcome. The initiative broadened representation of Latino experiences in the StoryCorps collection.
- 2007Memory Loss Initiative
United States
The Memory Loss Initiative encourages people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory loss to share memories and personal histories.
Outcome. It added a focused approach to recording voices and relationships affected by cognitive decline.
- 2006Military Voices Initiative
United States
The initiative records and preserves the experiences of post-9/11 veterans, active-duty service members, and their families.
Outcome. It created a dedicated body of military and family testimony within the StoryCorps archive.
- 2006September 11 Initiative
United States
The initiative documents the memories of survivors, rescue workers, families, and others directly affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Outcome. The work received a Peabody Award in 2011 and became a significant part of StoryCorps’s public-history programming.
- 2006StoryCorps Legacy
United States
StoryCorps Legacy helps people with serious illnesses and their relatives record life stories, often through partnerships with hospitals, hospices, clinics, and disease-specific organizations.
Outcome. The program extended StoryCorps’s methods into healthcare, palliative-care, and family settings.
- 2005MobileBooth Tour
United States
StoryCorps began taking recording studios on the road in converted Airstream trailers, partnering with local media, cultural, and community organizations to collect stories nationwide.
Outcome. The mobile model expanded access beyond fixed booths and became a central method for community-based recording.
Showing the 10 most recent.
Brand decisions
2018
Pilot One Small StepStrategyBackground
Increasing political polarization created a need for formats that could encourage contact without requiring agreement on political issues.
Action taken
StoryCorps introduced guided conversations between people with different political views, focusing on personal biographies and shared humanity.
Aftermath
The initiative added civic dialogue and cross-partisan listening to StoryCorps’s program portfolio.
2015
Launch a smartphone-based recording applicationProduct launchBackground
StoryCorps sought to make its interview and archival process available to people who could not visit a booth or meet a traveling team.
Action taken
With support from the TED Prize and Knight Prototype Fund, it developed a free app for recording, preparing, and submitting interviews.
Aftermath
The app extended StoryCorps’s reach into distributed, participant-led recording.
2005
Expand from fixed booths to mobile recordingStrategyBackground
A permanent booth model could not reach communities throughout the country, so StoryCorps developed traveling studios.
Action taken
The organization deployed two converted Airstream MobileBooths and began touring American communities.
Aftermath
Mobile recording became a major channel for national participation and partnerships.
Recent events
- 2018
One Small Step is piloted[1]
Campaign
StoryCorps piloted One Small Step, a program designed to bring people with different political views together for personal conversations rather than political arguments.
- 2016
NPR broadcast prompts criticism of StoryCorps segment framing[1]
Other
Listeners criticized the sympathetic framing of a Morning Edition story about a man seeking to address a decades-old wrong involving a domestic worker. NPR later acknowledged that the segment could be perceived as manufacturing a feel-good feature.
- 2015
StoryCorps wins support for a mobile recording application[1]
Product launch
Support from the TED Prize and the Knight Prototype Fund helped StoryCorps develop a free smartphone application for recording and submitting interviews.
- 2013
StoryCorps opens a StoryBooth at the Chicago Cultural Center[1]
Other
StoryCorps added a fourth documented StoryBooth at the Chicago Cultural Center.
- 2011
StoryCorps receives a Peabody Award for its September 11 Initiative[1]
Other
The organization’s September 11 oral-history work received a Peabody Award.
- 2008
StoryCorps expands permanent recording presence in San Francisco[1]
Other
A second StoryBooth opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
- 2007
StoryCorps receives an institutional Peabody Award[1]
Other
StoryCorps received a rare institutional honor at the 66th Annual Peabody Awards for its contribution to audio storytelling and public culture.
- 2005
StoryCorps launches traveling MobileBooths[1]
Product launch
Two converted Airstream trailers began traveling across the United States to record interviews in communities outside the organization’s fixed booths.
- 2003
StoryCorps opens its first StoryBooth at Grand Central Terminal[1]
Other
The organization began public recording operations with a permanent-style booth in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.
Sources6 sources
- 1StoryCorpsen.wikipedia.org
- 2StoryCorps official websitestorycorps.org
- 3AARP teams up with StoryCorps for 'Listening OutLoud: A Celebration of LGBTQ Voices'wclk.com
- 4Connecting While Apart: StoryCorp Launches New Remote Platformnpr.org
- 5CVN Partners with StoryCorps to Share Compelling Stories of Veteran Transitionprnewswire.com
- 6WUKY Partners With StoryCorps to Launch StoryCorps Connectuknow.uky.edu
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