The Uniting Cultures Who We Are, How We Got Here: Collecting Stories oral history collection shares stories collected from residents of St. James, Minnesota between 2017-2024. During this time, the St. James community became more culturally and economically diverse. People wanted to share and hear each other's stories of identity and belonging. Uniting Cultures collected a first set of interviews that were summarized in a book distributed in the community. This book was very well received, and community members wanted more opportunities to hear and tell stories. Next, in partnership with Convivencia Hispana, Odell Wind Farm Community Fund, the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, Otto Bremer Trust, Mayo Clinic Health System, the Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership of UMN Extension, and UMN Morris’ Center for Small Towns, Uniting Cultures members worked to collect, transcribe, translate, code, and share additional stories. These transcripts have been redacted to protect the identities of the storytellers. Uniting Cultures members and their community partners, with input from the storytellers, made this choice to encourage community members to feel safe sharing their stories.

The most recent interviews are archived as a digital collection in the Briggs Library at UMN Morris.