Storytelling – one way or another we all do it everyday. We send texts, we chat over lunch and some of us might even keep a journal of some sorts. But what about our personal possessions? What kind of story do they tell other people or even ourselves? How do our belongings shape us and what do they tell the world about us?
“We’re all telling stories all of the time,” says Project Support Assistant to Digital Scholarship and FYP instructor at St. Lawrence University Nicole Roché, “and stories are how we make sense of our world, who we are and where we’re going.” Amid a global pandemic, she says, the need for such personal stories is one of utmost importance. “We need community. We need ways of connecting,” she further states, “And stories can get us there.”
Roché is a writer and journalist, with a longstanding fascination with objects. “Everyone has a different story, and so often these objects can be entry points to really fascinating stories,” she says.
Roché also drew inspiration from her FYS “Everyday Artifacts.” Students in her class completed a semester long research paper centered around a family artifact. She further explains, “Given the stories I was already getting from 15 or 16 students… I really started thinking: what if this were open to invite stories from anyone at St. Lawrence, particularly students, and what would that look like?”
Roché’s students also conducted oral history interviews with family members, which got her thinking about the audio component of storytelling. Soon after, the idea of combining objects with a storytelling project began to take shape and Roché applied for, and was awarded an Innovation Grant from the university.
In order to get the word out about the Object Project, Roché has been reaching out to her fellow FYP instructors and other departments at St. Lawrence that have a clear connection to talking about objects. “My hope and my dream is to ultimately have a very multidisciplinary look at how all these different departments, fields and classes are using objects to achieve whatever they’re trying to achieve,” she states.
The Object Project is ongoing. Roché is currently working on the website that will showcase the work of student participants and is continuously reaching out to the SLU community in order to gather more students who would like to share their stories. If interested, please feel free to contact Nicole at nroche@stlawu.edu.