StoryCorps interviews online!

If you’re excited about StoryCorps presence at the upcoming Federation of Genealogical Societies conference,* here’s a taste of their work in central Arkansas from 2006!

In September 2006, StoryCorps traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas and gave numerous people the opportunity to tell and share life experiences. One of the partners of this project was the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies of the Central Arkansas Library System.

Interviewed by children, siblings, parents, and friends, the interviews are more like comfortable conversations now saved for posterity. The interviews allow people to candidly share painful memories as well as life successes. Some of the topics covered in these interviews include public and private school integration in Little Rock (Central High School and Mount St. Mary Academy), renovation of a room for victims at the Faulkner County Courthouse, and adjustment to Arkansas after immigration from El Salvador.


Currently, the Butler Center’s AV/AR Audio Video Collection contains eleven StoryCorps interviews. The AV/AR database provides full oral history interviews and lectures online. The full length content is divided into clips averaging two minutes and clips are searchable by subject terms. Researchers can search the collection by subject term or by interviewee/speaker.

StoryCorps’s 2006 interviews are in full-length format on the Butler Center digital collections website. You can also listen to clips from other StoryCorps interviews at their website.

*Do you want more information about the FGS annual conference? Visit the 2009 website or the official conference blog.

Contributed by Sara Thompson, AV/AR Specialist.