The YourStory Project

Every Utahn, no matter how ordinary, has a story to tell. But if no record is made of it, eventually the story is lost forever.

YourStory is devoted to the recording and preservation of the life stories of Utahns today. At a time when interest in genealogy and personal history is growing rapidly, we offer a way for families to preserve the voices of an older generation. Supported by the Documentary Studies program in the College of Humanities at the University of Utah and aided by a distinguished advisory board, the project is designed to facilitate the recording of interviews with relatives and friends, and to help individuals provide a lasting legacy of their own stories for families and loved ones.

Our Liberty Park YourStory Studio

The YourStory project—located inside the Chase Home Museum of Folk Art in Liberty Park—includes a studio for recording life history interviews. In our cozy living room at the museum, you’ll feel as comfortable telling stories about childhood pranks as re-living experiences your own parents may have shared with you.

The process of life review that occurs as you tell stories about your own personal history can help put the decades of your life into new perspective and provide a greater sense of precisely which moments in a lifetime have been most significant.

You can come to the YourStory studio as often as you like until your personal history is complete right up to the present—and then continue to update your life story on your birthday each year! 

Our knowledgeable staff will assist you in telling your life story. Each recording session will be preserved on a professional-quality CD. Afterwards you can decide if you would like to have the interview professionally transcribed, edited and bound into a book by skilled University of Utah professionals.  These books make lasting gifts to share with your loved ones for generations to come. 

Some examples of life stories already recorded include those of

• Three sisters in their 70's reminiscing about their younger days together
• The parents of a newlywed couple who asked them to record their life stories as a wedding gift
• A veteran's tales of his experiences on a destroyer in the Pacific as it came under fire in World War II
• A recently returned missionary sharing his exploits in the mission field so those memories will never be forgotten.

YourStory's Living Legacy at the Huntsman Cancer Institute

While every story is important and worthwhile, perhaps the most urgency surrounds the preservation of the life stories of the seriously ill. In collaboration with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, YourStory offers a special outreach to cancer patients and their families. Working with the HCI social workers through patient and caregiver groups and the Wellness Center, YourStory facilitates interviews with those patients and their families who wish to participate. We have a lovely living room/studio in the Institute Building at HCI, and we also take our portable recording equipment to patient rooms at the Huntsman Hospital, to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of University Hospital and to the homes of patients too ill to travel. But you don't have to be a patient at HCI to come here and record your life; any cancer patient or family member is welcome to make an appointment-and this recording is absolutely free.

Studies have shown that so often the strain of dealing with cancer affects the ongoing relationships between family members. Sharing life stories together through YourStory offers a gentle way of creating a safe place to renew avenues of communication and remind each family of the strengths that bind them together. It also provides a "living legacy" to be shared with loved ones forever.

Would you like to record your life story? Find out how to arrange for an interview right away.

Or would you like to help us keep YourStory available to everyone by making a donation?

If you’d like more information, or have more questions, contact us directly.