Julie
Mitchell
RedwoodAge.com
Whether it’s the memory of a childhood spent during simpler times, or a wrenching recollection about World War II survival, older Americans have a wealth of memories from their collective pasts to share.
All too often, Alzheimer’s disease or the simple act of aging robs the elderly of their precious memories before they can tell their stories. Through StoryCorps, a national independent nonprofit project, those memories can be shared and saved forever. The project's mission is to document and honor the stories of our elders.
Through StoryCorps Mobile Tour, anyone can conduct an interview with a family member and take home a free CD of the account.
Each interview is also archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. With permission, it may also be presented in a weekly podcast on NPR's Morning Edition.
23,000
Stories
The organization has traveled across the country visiting more than 100 towns in
48 states, facilitating more than 23,000 interviews. It is the largest oral
history project of its kind.
The grant-funded StoryCorps Memory Loss Initiative works specifically with those who have mild to moderate memory loss to support and encourage them to share their stories.
Through the Memory Loss Initiative, StoryCorps has partnered with organizations across the country, including the Alzheimer’s Association and the Institute on Aging’s Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center in San Francisco.
Dina Zempsky, director of the Memory Loss Initiative, says the best way to reach the aging population is to figuratively go “door to door.”
“By sending our outreach teams nationwide to agencies and facilities for the elderly, we invite the families or long-time friends of residents or participants to come in and interview their loved one," she said.
"It’s particularly important to reach those people who are less mobile. Maybe they’re confined to a wheelchair or have other medical conditions," said Zempsky. "Our teams help facilitate the interviews, which is wonderful for the participants but even more so for the families. They come away with a concrete way to preserve memories for generations.”
Tip
of the Iceberg
Zempsky believes StoryCorps and the Memory Loss Initiative are just the tip of
the iceberg in new ways to support boomers’ older parents.
“We’re really at the forefront of the incredible escalation of the aging population,” she said. More than 1,000 people have taken part in the Memory Loss Initiative since July 2008.
Tracy Chesna McCloud, program director for the Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center in San Francisco, decribes the day MLI came to interview the center’s participants as magical.
“In many cases, caregivers are our participants’ husbands or wives - so they’re older as well, and this is the only way they can truly preserve their spouse’s story," she said.
According to McCloud, the children of aging parents were particularly moved by the experience.
“One woman, whose mother had died from Alzheimer’s, came in to interview her mother’s brother - her own uncle, and she brought a book of family photos. Both of them were just beaming after the interview," she recalled.
McCloud explained that in cases where program participants didn’t have family, her staff conducted interviews.
“We learned so much more about our participants and their lives,” she said.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is the first museum in the country to host a StoryCorps StoryBooth. For one year, through October 11, 2009, Bay Area residents and visitors to the Bay Area can interview important people in their lives in the StoryBooth recording studio, located in the Museum's Sala Webb Education Center.
Recording sessions are by appointment only and can be made by visiting the StoryCorps website
