Public housing museum taps the power of storytelling

Storytelling, one of the most powerful ways to educate and inspire others, is essential to the National Public Housing Museum's mission as the nation's first cultural institution dedicated to interpreting and contextualizing the public housing experience in our nation.

To better document and amplify the narratives it records, the Chicago-based museum recently added Liú Chen as its oral history archive manager.

Research shows " stories stick," sparking knowledge, insights and empathy that linger far beyond the actual stories themselves. They also help listeners see situations from different perspectives and can help change attitudes, behaviors and beliefs.

"The story of public housing in this country is often riddled with stereotypes and misconceptions," said Lisa Yun Lee, the museum's executive director. "Our goal at NPHM is to change the narrative while also drawing attention to housing insecurity and promoting the right of all people to have a place to call home.

The museum's physical structure is now in development and will be an adaptive reuse of the last remaining building of the former Jane Addams Homes on Chicago's Near West Side. When completed, visitors will interface with compelling, historically significant exhibits and engage with the provocative ideas of internationally renowned contemporary artists.

In 2007, NPHM began recording stories for its archive, which now holds more than 150 recordings of public housing experiences that date as far as the 1930s, telling resident's stories in their own words. NPHM's digital archives will be made widely available to the public, beginning as early as this summer, with approximately 15 recordings linked on its website. In addition, a permanent oral history exhibit is planned as part of the interactive design of the museum's new home, once completed, at 1306 W Taylor St.

"The more I learned about NPHM, the more excited I became about being a part of this significant endeavor," Chen said. "It's a huge and potentially daunting project, but I know I can help keep the museum grounded, rooted and accountable to the people we want to serve."

Chen is deeply committed to using storytelling to drive understanding, build connection and spark change. As a graduate of Columbia University's Oral History Master of Arts Program, the first program of its kind in the U.S., Chen's knowledge is at the cutting edge of this field.

NPHM's Oral History Archive and Corps consists of a body of interviews with people from across the country who have lived in public housing, a vanguard effort recorded by a diverse group of individuals trained to be oral historians by the museum. Many of the interviews were conducted with residents of Chicago and New York public housing developments; part of Chen's mission is broadening the scope and augmenting the archives to include oral histories from public housing residents nationwide.

Chen will also manage the organization and dissemination of the audio narratives and work with the museum's programming team to incorporate oral histories into exhibits and other curations for the public.

Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation that will fund the project for two years, the museum plans to revive its Oral History Corps training program which serves public housing residents and community organizers, after a two-year pandemic-imposed hiatus. NPHM wants to train people who have experienced barriers to access for more formal education in oral history and storytelling.

"We are all storytellers, and story listeners. That's part of the human experience," Chen said. "But most marginalized voices are not well documented in formalized written archives. That includes the voices of public housing residents. Collecting and sharing oral histories offers an opportunity to change the narrative."

Chen's experience and training as an oral historian will inform their work at NPHM. Besides her master's degree from Columbia University, Chen served as a manager of the Voices Lifted oral history project at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore.

"I couldn't imagine a better partner in this crucial mission than Liú," Lee said. "At NPHM, we're trying to create space for public housing residents, past and present, to tell their stories and be heard, and Liú has a deep understanding of oral histories' mechanics, potency and significance."