Connect250 Captures a Nationwide Time Capsule of American Voices
A new StoryCorps‑Morning Edition partnership has gathered nearly 3,000 interviews from every corner of the United States.
What a thrill to hear the chorus of voices that make up our country!
Connecting Strangers Across the Map
To mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, StoryCorps teamed up with Morning Edition for a project called Connect250. The goal was simple: ask Americans to help create a time capsule of who we are.
Participants were matched with strangers from different regions for virtual interviews, sharing stories about their lives, fears, and the things that unite them.
“I think we’re recording.”
“Yes, we are good to go.”
Numbers That Speak Volumes
Host INSKEEP announced that Americans recorded nearly 3,000 interviews, totaling more than 100,000 minutes of conversation from all 50 states.
From Tucson to Pierre
One interview featured a conversation between a participant in Waynetown, Indiana and Mariana from Tucson, Arizona. Another pair connected a voice from a log cabin in California with someone who “grew up in El Paso.”
Listeners also heard a chat between a resident of Amity, Pennsylvania and a caller asking, “Where in South Dakota are you from?” The reply: “Right in the middle in Pierre. And we call it Pierre, not Pierre.”
Another exchange highlighted the pronunciation of Worcester, Massachusetts, with one participant noting, “It’s pronounced Worcester, which is so weird, right?”
Stories That Bridge Divides
INSKEEP summed up the spirit of the project: participants talked about the things that divide and scare them, as well as the shared experience of being American, exemplified by a man in Pennsylvania named Star Gibbs.
The sheer variety of voices shows just how rich and complex our national tapestry truly is.
Connect250 stands as a living archive, preserving the everyday narratives that together define the United States.
