Parked in front of the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City is a large silver Airstream trailer that looks a lot like a baked potato on wheels. Inside the trailer is a mobile recording studio that has just one mission according to Eloise Melzer, state supervisor for StoryCorps.

“We want to record the stories of everyday Americans,” Melzer said.

StoryCorps is a nonprofit organization that started in 2003. The stories the organization collects are occasionally presented on National Public Radio and are archived in the Library of Congress.

The process of recording the story is simple — two loved ones sit in the booth and have a conversation for 40 minutes. There are no guidelines or rules; just a human connection that happens to be documented.

“We have our box of tissues prominently placed,” Melzer said. “People cry and laugh and sometimes even argue a little.”

At this stop in Oklahoma City, which began in late October, there are 140 slots available — half reserved for the general public and half for community outreach members.

“The goal is to have the stories that we gather here as close to the census data as possible,” Melzer said.

Graham Brewer, a professional writing graduate student, took his grandfather to record his story at StoryCorps Nov. 1.

“Lately I have been thinking about how little I know about my family’s history, and I thought this was a really cool opportunity to have his life documented and [to] share it with future Brewers,” he said.

Their conversation was pretty basic. They talked about his life growing up on a farm and having a rancher for a father, but the dialogue didn’t stop there.

“We kept talking the whole ride home,” Brewer said. “It was really sentimental; he teared up at some points, and I have never seen my grandfather cry.”

For Melzer, this is what the job is all about. She describes StoryCorps as more than just an oral history project — it’s also an opportunity for people to honor someone they love by listening to them, and it is a social service that affirms every voice matters and that communities should be celebrated.

At the end of every recording session, the conversation is burned onto a CD and given to the participants.

“I think I am going to make copies of it [and] give it to my cousins for Christmas; it was something really special,” Brewer said.

StoryCorps has two mobile booths — one east of the Mississippi and one west of the Mississippi, as well as three permanent booths in New York City, Atlanta and San Francisco. Melzer started in the San Francisco booth a year and a half ago and joined the mobile tour in July.

“I find this work humbling and an honor,” Melzer said. “I believe in the power of the human voice and that listening really is an act of love.”

Melzer herself has participated in several recording sessions with her family and friends. When a pair of sisters comes in, it makes her want to call her sister; when a mother and daughter sit and talk, she feels the need to talk to her mom.

“The conservations that happen in the booth don’t happen in everyday life,” Melzer said. “I am consistently reminded that I need to be asking the people in my life these important questions.”

If you go
StoryCorps is collecting stories through Nov. 22 in front of the Civic Center Music Hall in OKC.
A handful of slots remain for those interested in recording with a loved one.
To make a reservation, visit www.storycorps.org or call 1-800-850-4406.