A national initiative to document the unique stories of Americans will arrive in Medford this month in the form of a silver Airstream trailer. It’s part of the cross-country tour of a project called StoryCorps, and it’s the largest oral history undertaking in history.

Two StoryCorps mobile booths began a national tour in Washington, D.C., on May 19. One will be parked in front of the main entrance of the Central Library in Medford from Oct. 20 through Nov. 7.

Begun in 2004, the project collected more than 2,000 stories in its first year and expects to collect more than 250,000 interviews over the next 10 years. About 100 stories will be added to the archive from the Medford stop.

StoryCorps is the creation of National Public Radio producer and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient David Isay, who calls listening an "act of love."

Isay said he hopes the project would "help Americans appreciate the strength in the stories of everyday people they find all around them."

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The Rogue Valley stop is hosted by Jefferson Public Radio.

The StoryCorps touring MobileBooth offers participants the opportunity to record the stories and voices of friends and loved ones. The project was established to help everyday Americans preserve personal stories. JPR will use segments from area residents on the "Jefferson Daily," JPR’s weekday newsmagazine.

JPR Executive Director Ron Kramer hailed the project as an example of how public radio can serve people.

"It is also a project that exemplifies the power radio has to share and preserve the experiences, hopes and dreams of individuals, families and communities," he said.

People participate in pairs, one interviewing the other. A facilitator will guide people through the process and handle the technical side. Reservations are for 40-minute sessions.

Participants will get a CD to take home. With their permission, interviews will be sent into the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to be preserved. There’s a suggested donation of $10.

StoryCorps opened its first StoryBooth, a freestanding soundproof recording studio, in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in October 2003, and later added one at the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Plans are to open more StoryBooths — both mobile and stationary — across the country.

For more information

For more about the program, visit www.storycorps.net.

Reach reporter Bill Varbleat 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com.