The Bookseller Oral History Project
The Project.
Booksellers have never told their own story—until now.
Bookstores are private entities performing a public service - a delicate balance maintained for over 150 years. Bookstores are places where literary and cultural endeavors entwine with commerce, where the pursuit of economic profits must balance with the pursuit of social profit - because a bookstore is symbiotic with its community. This is the culture of bookselling.
Historically, booksellers have used their spaces as sites of resistance against censorship and in support of the First Amendment. Bookstores have served as crucial networking hubs for challenging systemic societal issues—from Women’s Suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement to LGBT+ Equal Rights. These stores constructed safe spaces that brought people together, stimulated progressive conversation, and facilitated public protest.
Booksellers have influenced what we read and contributed to our collective literary culture. Their stores are spaces that bring authors and readers together. They pour their time and energy into all that books can represent for people.
The real answer to “why are bookstores such special places?” is found in the people that work there—the booksellers.
Preserving bookseller experiences.
The Bookseller Oral History Project collects the historical experiences, insights, and perspectives of current and former booksellers. These interviews help preserve the culture of bookselling, the work practices, the decision-making processes, historical actions, and events, and they preserve the institutional memory of bookselling in general.
Booksellers rarely tell their own stories and their impact on their communities is often anonymous. This project aims to preserve their legacy.
Lanora Jennings began this project in 2023 after a conversation at an academic conference with other researchers in the History of the Book field. Many noted how difficult it was to find primary sources from booksellers—retail operations rarely donate their papers to library archives. As a former bookseller, Lanora thought that the best way to preserve the history of bookselling was through the voices of the booksellers themselves.
Get involved.
Tell Your Story! You are welcome to email us to set up an interview: info@bookstorechronicles.org
Schedule an Interview: Or, you can schedule an interview through the Share Your Story page on this website.
Volunteer! Would you like to help gather stories? Click here to learn more.
Donate: We are a self-funded passion project. Support from folks helps us with things like equipment, travel, audio processing and storage, etc.
A Note on Diversity
The idea to do this project came out of a frustration that comes from historical research. Bookselling has always been predominantly white. Finding primary, even secondary, sources about long-gone bookstores is challenging enough, let alone finding sources on stores owned and operated by minority folks. Mostly ignored by the local press, not welcome in the majority white trade organizations, using non-traditional funding can make it seem like these bookstores were scarce. They weren’t. I have been working on compiling a list of historical bookstores that were owned and operated by Black and Brown folks. You can see the list here.
The stories that I have uncovered on BIPOC and LBGTQ+ booksellers are incredible. They are stories of community and resilience, of activism and protest, of safe spaces and love.
The Bookseller Oral History Project is one way to preserve the voices and experiences of ALL booksellers for the future. If you are Black or Brown or anywhere in between and/or if you are LGBTQ+, I am doubly encouraging you to add your voice to this story.
Resources to get started.
If you are interested in participating in the project, please download the resources below for more information:
Bookseller Oral History Project Suggested Prompts & Questions
Contact
For more information, please e-mail or use the contact form. (NOTE: Our site has had frequent issues with e-mails sent prior to March 1, 2024. We apologize if we have missed your requests. All systems are fully functional now!)
Email
lanora@bookstorechronicles.org