StoryCorps Announces the Second Annual Day of Listening

Acclaimed oral history project stresses stories of service in 2009 commemoration …

StoryCorps, the most ambitious oral history project ever undertaken, has announced the second annual National Day of Listening, to take place on November 27, 2009. The National Day of Listening is an effort to encourage all Americans to honor a friend, a loved one, or a member of their community by interviewing them about their lives. The interview process takes less than an hour and offers a meaningful alternative to holiday consumerism.

Participants are encouraged to record their National Day of Listening interviews using equipment that is readily available in most homes – from cell phones to tape recorders to computers or even pen and paper. StoryCorps has created a free Do-It-Yourself interview guide with equipment recommendations and interview instructions available online at nationaldayoflistening.org.

This year, in cooperation with the Corporation for National and Community Service, StoryCorps is placing an emphasis on stories of volunteer service on the National Day of Listening.  Members of the service community are encouraged to interview outstanding volunteers connected to their organizations.  There’s no better way to honor their service than to memorialize it through recorded interviews.

“In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the idea of listening during the holiday season has clearly resonated with people across the country,” says StoryCorps founder and MacArthur “Genius” Dave Isay. “The National Day of Listening, which coincides with Black Friday – traditionally the largest shopping day of the year – proves that simply listening to one another is the least expensive and most meaningful gift we can give.”

StoryCorps’ national partners for the National Day of Listening include NPR, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the American Library Association. Although StoryCorps does not currently have the capacity to include National Day of Listening interviews in its collection at the Library of Congress, the organization provides simple instructions for recording and preserving interviews at nationaldayoflistening.org.

About StoryCorps

StoryCorps is an independent non-profit whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening. StoryCorps has one of the largest archives of American voices ever created, with interviews gathered from more than 50,000 people in all 50 states. Each StoryCorps interview is recorded on a free CD for participants to take home and share, and is also archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Each week, millions of Americans listen to StoryCorps’ award-winning broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition. Fifty of StoryCorps’ most emblematic stories have been collected in the New York Times bestseller, Listening Is an Act of Love (Penguin Press). A follow-up book, Mom: Remarkable Stories of American Mothers from the StoryCorps Project, scheduled for publication in Spring 2010, will feature inspiring stories by and about mothers. StoryCorps’ major funders include: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), The Atlantic Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, The Kaplen Foundation, and Joe and Carol Reich.

For more information, visit storycorps.org.