Alaskans get something to talk about — themselves

VICTORIA BARBER

August 14, 2008 at 2:46PM AKST

Imagine recording a 40-minute conversation with a person you love or find fascinating and having it archived at the U.S. Library of Congress for future generations, perhaps your own great-great-great grandchildren, to listen to.

For residents of Barrow, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome and Gustavus, that opportunity is coming this fall, when a nonprofit corporation that collects oral histories from across the United States will start recording the stories of everyday Alaskans.

“StoryCorps focuses on valuing the lives and experiences of everyday people, and especially the ones whose stories are not told as frequently as they need to be told,” said Melvin Reeves, manager of the StoryCorps Alaska Initiative. “There are a lot of different stories from everyday Alaskans, and we’re going to get some incredible stories about the lives that people there have lived.”

That StoryCorps is coming to Alaska at all is a story in itself – a mystery, in fact. Reeves said that funding for their six-month Alaska project was provided by an anonymous donor, “who visited Barrow, Nome, Dillingham and Unalaska many years ago, and had a wonderful experience, particularly in regards to the Native Alaskans,” he said.

The donor requested that StoryCorps record stories from those four communities to preserve the stories of Native and non-Native Alaskans.

“And now you know as much as I know,” Reeves said. To the four rural towns Reeves added Fairbanks, to capture the perspectives of urban Alaskans, and Juneau, for its role as the capital city on the state’s 50th anniversary.

From Oct. 15 to April 30, community members will have the opportunity to schedule an interview with whomever they would like to invite (Reeves said interviews happen most often between two people that already know each other, whether family or friends).

Also, StoryCorps is mailing a “StoryKit,” a package containing the recording equipment and instructions, to Gustavus for residents to record their stories remotely. Other Alaska communities may also be included in the project later through the story kits.

The interviewer is given a list of questions in advance – general questions, such as “What was the happiest moment of your life?”, “How would you like to be remembered?” or “Is there anything that you’ve always wanted to tell me but haven’t?”

However, interviewers are free to ask anything they want, whether or not it’s on the list.

“What’s unique about the StoryCorps interview is that participants choose what they talk about,” said Reeves. “(The list) is meant to help people see in instances where they don’t that they already have important stories.”

Participants enter a recording booth staffed by a single facilitator, who is there to explain the process, operate the sound equipment and make suggestions if the conversation runs dry. The two then have what amounts to a 40-minute recorded conversation.

It’s a simple process that Reeves said often has a profound effect on the people who have experienced it.

“We’ve had quite a number of people that feel it can be one of the most important experiences they’ve had in their lives,” said Reeves. “They’ve gotten to talk about stuff they’d never got to talk about, and at the end they have a permanent record, a family heirloom that is only going to increase in value as time goes on.”

The participants leave with a free, broadcast quality CD of their conversation, and copies of the recording are archived at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

In Alaska, StoryCorps is working with local organizations, such as the Unalaska Public Library, the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol Bay campus in Dillingham, to help secure recording space and spread word of the project in their communities.

StoryCorps will also hire two part-time facilitators in Barrow, Nome, Dillingham and Unalaska and a full-time project coordinator based in Fairbanks. Once facilitators are hired to manage scheduling for communities, residents will be able to schedule interviews.

Reeves said that StoryCorps is hoping to collect 520 recordings from Alaska, 13 of which will (with the permission of the storytellers) be edited for broadcast by the Alaska Public Radio Network.

Though StoryCorps has never operated out of a place as remote as Alaska, Reeves said that many of the stories they’ve recorded in the past have had one thing in common.

“People quite often end their interviews by saying they love each other. I’m not trying to suggest that there aren’t hard things they have to talk about, but it’s the beauty in life that we often don’t share,” Reeves said. “Even when it’s painful to talk about, there is a beauty in the sharing itself.”

Victoria Barber can be reached at 907-348-2424 or toll free at 800-770-9830, ext. 424.