Sustaining the StoryCorps Archive as a Public Service: Recording, Preserving, and Sharing Interviews During COVID-19

FAIN: PB-275160-20

StoryCorps, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY 11217-1506)
Virginia Millington (Project Director: May 2020 to July 2023)

The retention of 11 staff members who make up the StoryCorps Recording and Archive Team, to ensure the care and accessibility of interviews conducted across the nation during, and about, the coronavirus pandemic.

In the face of COVID-19, StoryCorps rapidly mobilized to launch digital tools that enable us to continue our mission-driven work to record and archive interviews remotely, redefining how StoryCorps can interact with and serve the public. Our resources have wide-ranging applications to the humanities for education and community engagement, serving scholars, students, educators, libraries, and other partners. To maintain these activities, and to document stories of diverse Americans during this once-in-a-century crisis for future historians, we must retain our Recording & Archive staff to ensure the integrity of our interviews and Archive. This team will train and support dozens of staff and partners; help facilitate and preserve interviews and their metadata; and ensure the accessibility of these interviews in our Online Archive, including the presentation of stories that document how individuals and communities are impacted by the pandemic.