乐播传媒

CUnique Stories is seeking volunteers to take part in their storytelling program, which will take place this spring

The 乐播传媒 Boulder, as it exists today, was founded on the shoulders of those who came before. Many of those stories, however, become lost once those voices leave the university. A new project aims to bring those stories back鈥攆or the benefit of those still here.

CUnique Stories, a project co-designed by members of the University Libraries Learning & Engagement team and an arts and sciences alumna and instructor, seeks to bring alumni back to campus so that they can have a conversation with current members of the community, ensuring those stories of the alumni鈥檚 experiences survive the passage of time鈥攁nd shed new light on the CU Boulder from yesterday.

鈥淭he aim of this project is to give contemporary members of the community a sense of how CU Boulder is a living, breathing process, that its history is an ongoing, organic thing that we鈥檙e all a part of, and that we鈥檙e all participating in and contributing to. We鈥檙e all benefiting from those who came before and who听 forged the path we鈥檙e on,鈥� said Giulia Bernardini (MAArtHist), a museum-studies graduate student, humanities instructor and co-organizer of the project.

The idea for CUnique Stories first began as part of a class assignment. For that, Bernardini had to go around campus, discovering CU Boulder鈥檚 history through places, from George Norlin taking on the KKK to Mary Rippon, the first female professor at CU鈥攁fter whom the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre is named鈥攈aving to give up her child because female educators were not supposed to have families at the time.

鈥淚 started to think how can we get the history of CU told by the people who鈥檝e been part of that history? How can we get alumni, perhaps, to share their history of CU Boulder in order to make it a living history?鈥�

Guided by the 听project out of Denmark and previous Living Library programs out of听the University Libraries at CU Boulder, the collaborators designed CUnique Stories, a project seeking听to bring alumni to campus to tell their CU Boulder stories鈥攚hatever they may be.

鈥淥ur hope is that we鈥檒l have a wide variety of stories that will paint a picture of the range of experiences people have had at CU Boulder, whether someone wants to tell a story about an academic achievement or a moment in a particular class or an extracurricular activity they were involved with or their political activism,鈥� Bernardini explained.

The vision for the project is that these 鈥渟torytellers鈥� will be paired with three to four 鈥渓isteners,鈥� who will be current members of the CU Boulder community. The storyteller will tell their tale鈥攚hich will be honed with the help of the CUnique Stories organizers in a workshop prior to the event鈥攁nd then the two groups can discuss the story, encouraging a dialogue between the past and the present.

鈥淗istory and knowledge can be transmitted in a multitude of ways,鈥� Bernardini said. 鈥淥ften, when we think of history and the past and we think of books, library stacks and whatnot, but history is a living, breathing thing, and how lucky for us if we can tap into some of that history by hearing someone tell us their story.鈥�

CUnique Stories is scheduled to take place in-person in late March or April in Norlin Library. However, that may change depending on COVID-19 conditions. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to bernardg@colorado.edu, and the organizers will be in touch.