NPR project seeks interview subjects

By Pat Waring - March 22, 2007

Representatives from the National Public Radio (NPR) StoryCorps and Cape Cod NPR station WCAI met with Martha's Vineyard Museum personnel and other invited community members at the museum in Edgartown on Feb. 22 to announce an interview project coming up on the Island in May. A national oral history program, StoryCorps visits communities around the country, interviewing private citizens with the goal of preserving their stories for the future.

Linsey Lee, oral history curator at the museum, organized the Vineyard meeting with the assistance of WCAI.

The visitors said that the StoryCorps mobile recording booth will be on the Vineyard May 10 until May 19 and are they seeking interview subjects. Interviews will also be conducted in Orleans May 24 through June 8. There will be a total of 135 interviews for the Cape and Vineyard of which 70 will be done here.

The preliminary visit aimed to let Islanders know about the program and to solicit volunteer participants and recommendations for invididuals to be interviewed. Instead of a professional interviewer questioning the subject, StoryCorps also solicits friends or relatives to conduct the conversations. Interviews are meant to focus on the subject's personal life, and be spontaneous and unrehearsed.

A trained StoryCorps representative will assist the participants during every 40-minute interview session.

"We want to hear everyone's story, from the barber down the street to your great-grandfather's best friend," reads an announcement from the Cape and islands NPR stations, emphasizing the importance of identifiying a wide range of interview subjects and focussing on everyday people.

"What they're interested in is getting interviews with everyday people," said Eliza Bettinger of StoryCorps. "It's putting voices on the radio that wouldn't otherwise be heard."

Along with several organization and business representatives who attended the meeting, Ms. Lee is in contact with other community leaders to solicit recommendations.

Participants will receive a copy of the recording session to keep, and if they agree, copies of Vineyard tapes will be added to the archives at the museum's oral history center where they will be made available for educational and non-commercial uses. A copy will also be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Excerpts from some interviews will be broadcast on NPR.

Ms. Lee said the project would present a great opportunity for people to tell their stories.

"The Vineyard is rich with diversity and rich with stories," she said. "The proces of sharing and telling stories can be a life-changing experience."

Reservations for Vineyard interviews can be made beginning April 26 and for Orleans on May 10, both at 10 am. According to StoryCorps representatives, reservations fill up quickly. To sign up call 800-850-4406 visit storycorps.net. Or to recommend community members who have a story to tell contact eliza@storycorps.net. More information is available from Linsey Lee, 508-627-4441, ext. 113.