You don't have to run for president to become part of American history.
A silver Airstream trailer marked "StoryCorps" sits in the parking lot of the UF Cultural Plaza, equipped with a professional recording studio to capture a melting pot of stories from North Florida.
StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit project with National Public Radio, traces American oral history by recording stories and saving them in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Interviews will take place by reservation only at the UF Cultural Plaza from Thursday to Oct. 30 and at the Alachua County Headquarters Library in downtown Gainesville from Oct. 31 to Nov. 15.
StoryCorps partnered with WUFT-FM, which is affiliated with NPR, after two years of planning, said Sue Wagner, WUFT-FM director of communications.
The interviews are run by a worker who records the session for about an hour.
Whitney Henry-Lester, StoryCorps site supervisor, said people usually talk about love, work or military experiences, but their stories can be about any topic.
"It's nice when sons or daughters come in with their parents or grandparents to document their loved ones," Henry-Lester said
After the session, participants walk away with a free, 45-minute edited CD of the recording. Although it's a public service, StoryCorps requests a $25 donation, and people have the option of not having their story broadcast or stored.
The Gainesville stop relies on local funding from Haven Hospice with support from the Harn Museum and the county library, said Marisa Karplus, StoryCorps spokeswoman, in a phone interview. Major funding for the project comes from State Farm Insurance and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Karplus said.
Two mobile booths stop in cities for about six weeks to partner with local radio stations and outreach programs, obtaining hundreds of stories per visit, Henry-Lester said.
Participants tend to bring older relatives, friends or significant others, she said. In the past, students have recorded with professors or mentors, and doctors or researchers have used the project to document their work.
StoryCorps, created by Dave Isay, began in 2003 with the goal of traveling across the nation to capture 10 years of American life in stories, Henry-Lester said.
So far, the mobile and stationary recording studios have collected more than 20,000 stories in the U.S. The StoryCorps Mobile Tour has been running nonstop since its 2005 start, she said. Before Gainesville, the booth was in Roanoke, Va.
Gene Tysowsky is the executive director of The Dignity Project, a private nonprofit organization in Gainesville that engages at-risk high school students in vocational career internships throughout the city.
Tysowsky said one of the at-risk high school students plans to record his story about overcoming obstacles with the help of The Dignity Project. He said most of the participants don't have the chance to tell their stories.
"We're not newsmakers," he said. "That's the way we learn about each other and our history, through stories that are near and dear to people."
