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Smithsonian's Stories from Main Street Podcast Now Available


MoMS is excited to announce that its new podcast Smithsonian's Stories from Main Street is coming soon! Inspired by all of the amazing stories that rural Americans across the country have shared with the Stories from Main Street program since its start in 2011, MoMS was delighted to develop this new podcast that shines a light on the culture of rural communities.

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Young Innovators Merge History and Digital Arts


The Arts Center of the Capital Region has been hosting summer camp programming for ages 6-18 since 2001. From August 19th-23rd, a unique camp was devoted to Stories: YES with a focus on the Troy, New York waterway system. It was taught by two local videographers and attended by 8 teens who are interested in the digital arts.

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Without Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Research Ignites Youth in Upstate New York


Young people on Schoharie River Center's Environmental Study Teams spent the winter of 2019 investigating the ways that their upstate communities are connected with, and impacted by, water.

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Maryland Students Produce Film About Historic Flooding in Ellicott City


Twelve students from Lansdowne High School (LHS) Televideo program know the impact of massive flooding—they’ve witnessed it twice in their region in just two years.

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Going the Distance for Stories in Nebraska


If you haven't been there it's hard to describe what it's like in Nebraska, where the sky looms as large as the region's massive fertile fields. Custer County, seated in the middle of the state, is 2,576 square miles or bigger than the whole of Delaware! The population that covers these vast plains is just under 11,000 people. So how do you get young people dispersed across this giant county to throw their efforts into MoMS' youth storytelling initiative Stories: YES?

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MoMS Mississippi Alum Immersed in Youth Storytelling


Creativity flows through Mississippian veins just as water flows through the bayous.

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Looking over Lanesboro

What makes a hometown a home?


Have you ever given your hometown much thought? Why did people settle there? Has it existed for centuries or can its age be measured in decades? What keeps the economy going? Three young women in Lanesboro, Minnesota explored these questions in remarkable documentaries about their hometown. Perhaps the most important question they considered—what does the future of Lanesboro hold?

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YAG interview

Life and Levees in Illinois


Last spring, Lawrence County Historical Society in Lawrenceville, Illinois collaborated with teachers and 15 students to explore the area's history of recurring floods in conjunction with the exhibition Water/Ways. The area has a series of levees in Illinois and nearby Indiana. The student researchers investigate how they protect communities thanks to a savvy network of Levee Commissioners and caretakers who patrol them when a levee is in danger of being breached.

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Screenshot from Mahomet, Illinois student video

Way to Go Mahomet Students!


Inspired by the MoMS exhibition Water/Ways, three teens collaborating with staff at the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet, Illinois created a poignant video called “The Pollution of Our Waterways in Central Illinois.” They already possessed some technical experience podcasting but the Stories from Main Street project allowed them to expand their skills, learning about lighting, recording outside, and perhaps the trickiest lesson, how to research and conduct successful interviews

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