When Sandra M. Clark stepped into the role as CEO of StoryCorps in 2022, she brought a wealth of journalism and storytelling experience with her to the Brooklyn-based nonprofit focused on collecting and preserving recordings of stories from people across America of different backgrounds.
Clark grew up in a military family with an African-American father from Louisiana and a Japanese mother, and she has lived in Kansas, Louisiana, Philadelphia, West and Southern Africa and Japan. Throughout her life, she has always been passionate about learning about stories from diverse people and cultures.
As she served as vice president for news and civic dialogue at WHYY in Philadelphia and managing editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Clark was able to lead news operatives, reach a range of audiences and pave the way for the Inquirer to receive a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Now, leading StoryCorps’ mission of building community through sharing stories, she makes her way to Chautauqua to continue the Week Seven theme, “Wonder and Awe: A Week Celebrating Chautauqua’s Sesquicentennial,” during her lecture at 10:45 a.m. today in the Amphitheater.
StoryCorps was founded in 2003 by Dave Isay, a New York Times bestselling author and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, who last spoke at Chautauqua in 2022. The organization has gathered conversations and stories from over 620,000 Americans that have been recorded and preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress — the largest archive of human voices collected that continues to grow.
Selected stories are also heard by over 12 million listeners weekly on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” through StoryCorps’ podcast, animated shorts, digital programs and books. People can record their stories at home, with StoryCorps’ online tools; the nonprofit also travels around the country through mobile tours and stories can be recorded with a facilitator.
In May, Chautauqua Institution launched a partnership with StoryCorps in celebration of its sesquicentennial, an initiative that aims to record 150 stories and conversations from people of Chautauqua, friends and families and preserve them in Chautauqua’s 150th Anniversary StoryCorps Archive in the Library of Congress. Selected recordings are featured on “StoryCorps Mondays at Chautauqua,” presented before events in the Amp or the Hall of Philosophy every week.
Emily Morris, chief brand officer of Chautauqua Institution who pursued the partnership with StoryCorps, first discovered the program during a morning broadcast on NPR and she began listening to them every Friday. When Isay spoke in 2022 as part of the Interfaith Lecture Series, Morris thought about the importance of capturing oral histories and conversations.
“That seemed so nicely aligned with the mission of Chautauqua,” she said. “That planted the seed in my mind that this is something we should do on our anniversary to really engage Chautauquans in conversation with each other, to illuminate the Institution’s history, the experiences of our patrons and exemplify our mission of celebrating and exploring the best in human values.”
After Cathrin and Craig Greene’s gift to the Institution in honor of its sesquicentennial, Morris coordinated with StoryCorps, and the organization supported the initiative by providing services such as a website page for the Institution to house story archives. StoryCorps also worked with the Institution’s programming team to bring Clark to the Chautauqua Lecture Series, and Morris said Clark will include some of Chautauqua’s stories in her presentation while focusing on the art of “capturing a conversation.”
“I know Sandra,” she said. “I’ve watched how she has brought the mission of StoryCorps to life following in Dave Isay’s footsteps, and I’m excited that she is going to get our community excited about participating in this experience during the anniversary year.”
Morris said that while the program has a goal of gathering 150 stories this season, Chautauquans can still record and add to the archives for years to come.
“There’s really no limit, so we’re going to encourage people, even after the Summer Assembly ends, to take the time to be involved,” she said.
Nancy Stanley, Chautauqua’s StoryCorps Ambassador and a Chautauquan of several years, first discovered StoryCorps about 15 years ago while raising money for the PBS station in her hometown of Tucson, and through the Tucson Festival of Books.
“I had a real strong familiarity with it, having read the books and knowing the story of Dave Isay, the founder, and I have always admired the project,” she said. “This was my little dream come true and I have the best job on the grounds, I think.”
Stationed in the Author’s Alcove every Wednesday this season, just to talk to Chautauquans about the project, and in Cohen Multimedia Recording Studio to do the actually story-recording, Stanley hears Chautauquans tell their stories, and said getting to hear people share their memories with friends and family has been life-changing.
“That has been extraordinary to witness — the exchange of authentic emotion, laughter and joy,” she said. “The summer really has changed me as a person.”
Because of the Institution’s rich history and legacy of engaging in dialogue and conversations, Stanley said she is grateful the StoryCorps initiative allows Chautauquans to record and tell their own “authentic, genuine” stories to be preserved, and she looks forward to Clark’s lecture highlighting StoryCorps’ mission.
“I have sat in that booth all summer and thought how wonderful it would have been to capture my father’s voice, and now generations are capturing that for their grandchildren or their children,” she said. “I think that’s an exceptional kind of memory and legacy that you can create for your family.”
