Montana StoryKeepers is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving oral and written histories through sharing and gathering, conducting multi-generational programs, collaborating educational events and participating in community endeavors.

We work with individuals, families and organizations to encourage a community culture to honor our past and enjoy our life stories.

  • Brings personal healing and enhances mental health
  • Increases respect and empathy
  • Nurtures compassion and understanding between generations and cultures
  • Builds supportive connections between people in the home, workplace, and community
  • Provides a gift for surviving generations at life's end
  • Opens doors for humor and laughter as well as healthy grieving

  • Informs the community of story telling events
  • Organizes classes, workshops, and retreats
  • Preserves life narratives
  • Establishes a base of volunteers to elicit and capture life stories from people of all ages
  • Encourages the art of storytelling to schools, hospitals, senior homes, youth organizations, veterans groups, and other community fellowship venues

 

The Value of Sharing Stories

I have been very fortunate in being present when individuals have shared their life stories. The settings were numerous and often unusual: hospitals, canning peaches, drinking tea, washing dishes or looking at photographs. A noticeable spiritual alertness emerges as the storyteller begins to recognize that his or her life has been worthwhile and they have contributed to the world in some small way. A profound and readily evident physical effect takes place as anecdotes unfold and the listener assists the speaker to recognize the wonder and uniqueness of his or her story. The speaker's eyes begin to sparkle, weep, or gaze into space as they behold in their mind's eye the drama they had almost forgotten. Whether the language is body, spoken, or written, the story is priceless as an oral history becomes a permanent memento of the family's heritage. It is a document that honors all of us, both the storyteller and the story readers for generations yet to come.

Judy H. Wright
Personal Historian


 

Montana StoryKeepers Board of Directors

Susie Risho
Michele Wheeler
Judy H. Wright

 

Montana StoryKeepers was affiliated with
Quality at Life's End Institute
with assistance from the
Missoula Cultural Council

 

 

Montana StoryKeepers Serve the Missoula Community as:

  • Personal Historians
  • Story Tellers for entertainment and education
  • Workshop Leaders for soliciting life stories, or leading story circles

 

For further information concerning opportunities for classes, life story circles, and events in Missoula, contact:

Montana StoryKeepers
Email: storykeepers@montanastorykeepers.com
Phone: 406-549-0752
Postal address:  
302 South Forth Street West
Missoula, Montana  59801

 

Leaving a Living Legacy
 by Judy H. Wright

A comprehensive listing of over fifty methods of writing your history.  This booklet is filled with information, anecdotes, and examples to assist historians, journalists, instructors, or writers in clarifying which methods will best suit their purposes.   A must for life story writing classes.

Download Ebook Version 
for only $10


Also Available Upon Request

StoryKeepers Handbook, by Susie Risho
A collection of strategies, suggestions and prompts to elicit story gathering for your self or others.
        $5.00 (including shipping)

Stories, The Family Legacy: A Guide for 
Recollection and Sharing   
by Richard Stone

Excellent reference for recapturing memories and sharing them.
$12.00 (including shipping)

These two titles can be ordered by emailing storykeepers@montanastorykeepers.com