By Published: Dec. 16, 2021

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


The 做厙輦⑹, 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 backfor 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 alumnis experiences survive the passage of timeand shed new light on the CU Boulder from yesterday.

Mary Rippon

At the top of the page: A group conversing as part of the CU Boulder Libraries' Living Library project. Above: Mary Rippon, the first female professor at CU Boulder and the first at a state university泭(Museum of Boulder/).

The 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 were all a part of, and that were all participating in and contributing to. Were all benefiting from those who came before and who泭 forged the path were on, 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 Boulders history through places, from George Norlin taking on the KKK to Mary Rippon, the first female professor at CUafter whom the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre is namedhaving to give up her child because female educators were not supposed to have families at the time.

I started to think how can we get the history of CU told by the people whove 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?

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

Our hope is that well 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, Bernardini explained.

The vision for the project is that these storytellers will be paired with three to four listeners, who will be current members of the CU Boulder community. The storyteller will tell their talewhich will be honed with the help of the CUnique Stories organizers in a workshop prior to the eventand then the two groups can discuss the story, encouraging a dialogue between the past and the present.

History and knowledge can be transmitted in a multitude of ways, Bernardini said. Often, 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.

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.