Louisville Story Program

10/14/2026

We are so grateful that the Community Archiving Workshop Collective partnered with LSP and Roots101: African American Museum to bring their workshop to Louisville! All day during the Save Our Stories Festival, they led volunteer efforts to inventory and catalog audiovisual materials in preparation for digitization efforts. Some of these materials may even end up in LSP's upcoming free digital community archive. Stay tuned!

A special thank you to Tate Luckey with WHAS11 News for visiting and uplifting this story so that even more community members can learn about this vital work.

10/13/2026

10/08/2026

There will be so many amazing opportunities to engage, learn, and practice preservation and documentary skills at the Save Our Stories Festival this Saturday! Register at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.

10/07/2026

Rev. Stephan Kirby dropped off a portion of the extensive archives of his father, the late Rev. Dr. Charles Edward Kirby Sr., who was the longtime pastor of Southern Star Baptist Church, a civil rights legend, and an esteemed gospel singer, and much more. He was also an archivist, recording and holding on to hundreds of audio recordings of his sermons and singing. These audio cassettes will be inspected and inventoried at the Community Archiving Workshop during the Save Our Stories Festival at Roots101: African American Museum this Saturday!

If you have old film reels, videotapes, or audiotapes, you can bring them to the festival and find out what's on them and also learn about your options for getting those tapes digitized. Learn more and RSVP at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.

10/07/2026

You can research so much with your Louisville Free Public Library card! Stop by the local research station at the Save Our Stories Festival on Saturday, Oct. 10th at Roots101: African American Museum to learn more from Natalie and Aaron. RSVP at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.

10/06/2026

Photographer George Williams is sharing some of his recordings with the volunteers participating in the Community Archiving Workshop this Saturday at the Save Our Stories Festival! We're honored to partner with everyone who is working to inventory, catalogue, and (ultimately) digitize audiovisual materials that preserve and document local histories. If you have tapes you'd like to contribute, contact us at [email protected]. You can also bring your tapes or photographs to the festival on Saturday to view them and/or get them scanned. RSVP to the event at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest! We'll see you at Roots101: African American Museum!

10/04/2026

The longtime advocate for justice Howard Owens made numerous recordings during his life, and some of these tapes will be among the materials that will be inspected and inventoried at the Community Arching Workshop at the Save Our Stories Festival at Roots 101 on October 10! Afterwards, we will work with partners to digitize the materials. We are extremely grateful for Howard's trust in this process.

If you have any tapes you would like to be a part of this Community Archiving Workshop, let us know! You can message us here or email us at [email protected]. Or, you can also bring your tapes to the festival to stop by a video station to view your materials and learn about other digitization options.

Full festival information is available at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest. See you there!

10/02/2026

Start looking in your basements! You can bring old tapes and photographs to the Save Our Stories Festival on Saturday, Oct. 10. We'll have stations where you can view the tapes and scan the photographs. If you have any questions, feel free to message us. Don't forget to RSVP at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.

10/02/2026

The full schedule for community presentations at the Save Our Stories Festival is here! We hope you can stop by the event on Saturday, October 10th to hear more about these beautiful preservation and documentary arts projects.

The full festival is open from 11am-4pm on Saturday, October 10. In addition to listening to community presentations, you can explore the museum to visit stations dedicated to photo scanning, local research, filmmaking, genealogy, videotapes and old film, and oral history. There is even a special video showcase of archival and present-day footage! A map will be provided at the event.

Learn more about each presentation and RSVP here: bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.

We'll see you at Roots101: African American Museum!

10/01/2026

The Louisville Story Program will be launching its new Digital Archives in the coming months. This presentation is an opportunity for you to get a sneak preview of some of the forthcoming collections, how to navigate them, and how you will be able to contribute to them. Your feedback will help inform the final design and functionality of the digital archives. Featured collections include over 16,000 photographs from the Louisville Defender that are housed at the University of Louisville Photographic Archives. This is also an opportunity for you to begin envisioning new digital collections that you might like to develop in the future to share with the community.

Presenter: Jason Polete, Together LLC, and Darcy Thompson, Louisville Story Program

We hope you can join us at the Save Our Stories Festival on Saturday, October 10th Roots101: African American Museum! Learn more and RSVP at bit.ly/saveourstoriesfest.