Carolyn and her younger brother, Warren, pose for the camera in this sepia-toned print from the late 1920s. The picture is among those that appear on the Web site for the Bloomington museum. Courtesy Photo.

Tucked away in a corner of the World Wide Web is the story of Carolyn Benedict's first permanent, Ivan Headley's time as a milkman and Mai Takada's experiences as an IU international student.

Collecting stories and experiences such as these is the aim of the Museum of the Person. Any person, of any age or walk of life, can contribute.

"It helps us sustain a sense of history in the community," said Phil Stafford, a Museum of the Person committee member and director of IU's Center on Aging and Community.

Those stories can provide a collective history. On a more individual level, putting pen to paper and telling stories helps achieve a sense of well-being and acceptance of the course a life has taken.

Though for some of those whose narratives appear on the Web site, telling stories just seems natural.

"It's satisfying to me to get it down on paper," said Carolyn Benedict, 82, whose childhood stories appear on the museum web site. She's been a life-long diarist and enjoys writing about the past.

Worldwide, the museum of the person now holds thousands of stories from many others who have also enjoyed talking or writing about the past.

The project began in Brazil in 1992 as a way for everyday people to tell their life stories, and also as a way to promote social change by letting marginalized people share their experiences. Now, the museum has branched out. There are nodes in Portugal, Canada and one based right here in Bloomington.

Thom Gillespie, a professor in IU's Department of Telecommunications, first heard of the Brazilian museum about four years ago, said Stafford. From there, the Indiana version was created. So far, stories have been collected via other memory projects, such as the Center on Aging and Community and the Bloomington Photography Club's "Picturing My World" project, which sought to tell stories from the lives of adults with developmental disabilities, and through work done by IU students and local seniors.

The site is also interactive, with directions for readers on how to submit stories. It's a way to allow the "everyman" to preserve their lives for the ages.

"A lot of people feel that their story is not worth hearing. At least for me, every life is interesting," said Stafford, who has worked with seniors in the community in various capacities for many years.

"Ordinariness does not mean unimportant."

Many feel that since they are not rich or famous, that their stories won't receive much attention.

"I didn't think anybody'd pay attention to it," said Benedict.

However, even in narratives of ordinary lives, there is a feeling that the teller becomes happier through reminiscing. It is evident in the great attention to detail shown in many of the stories, from the little details about North Dakota farm life shown in Richard Dean Etter's narrative, to the lovingly detailed story of Carolyn Benedict's school days, where she writes "There is the memory of a special odor, never noticed anywhere else, of the classrooms of my childhood—musty, with a suggestion of wet wool, the inkwells' acrid odor, and an innocent talcum scent when the teacher bent over the desk to check a paper."

Benedict, who grew up in Crawfordsville and used to work for the IU library system, finds that writing helps bring details from the past, once forgotten, back up to the surface.

"I do a lot of thinking about it," she said.

The Museum of the Person-Indiana already has some wonderful narratives in it, but organizers are looking toward the future.

"We'd like it to grow incrementally. The next step might be to look for ways to post other memory projects on our own site so that we could create that network," said Stafford.

For now, the Indiana museum's biggest concern is maintaining exposure, getting people to look at the site and submit stories.

It's important for people, especially seniors, to submit stories because of all the knowledge that can be lost when a person passes on.

"It's like a fire in a library," said Stafford.

On the Web

Surf on over to the Museum of the Person.

The Museum of the Person-Indiana

www.museudapessoa.com.br/ingles/ (the English version of the site; has less content).

Reporter Mercedes Rodriguez can be reached at 331-4380

This house at 904 E. Main St. in Crawfordsville was the family home of 82-year-old Carolyn Benedict, now a resident of Bloomington. Her memories of childhood are among those that are preserved on the Bloomington Web site for the Museum of the Person. Courtesy Photo.

Return to Museum of the Person-Indiana