Story+
Learn more about the program below, and scroll down to read full descriptions of this year's 6 projects.
What is Story+? Story+ is a 6-week paid summer research experience for Duke students—undergraduates and graduates—interested in exploring interdisciplinary arts, interpretive social sciences, and humanities research topics and methodologies. The program combines hands-on research with storytelling to create dynamic outcomes for diverse public audiences. In Story+, students are organized into small project teams and have the opportunity to participate in a flexible mini “curriculum” on research methods and storytelling strategies. Team projects may be led by Duke faculty, librarians/archivists or research staff or by non-profit organizations, and will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by graduate student mentors.
Stipends All undergraduate student researchers and graduate student project managers receive a competitive award stipend for participation. Students generally receive half their stipend the last week of May and the other half at the end of June. For participating students receiving need-based financial aid, and any one concerned about how your funding will work for this program or other summer opportunities, please contact your financial aid counselor for further information and personalized advice.
Code of Conduct Statement Together we’ll aim to create a research environment that respects all cultures, backgrounds, identities, and views and a research community where belonging, respect, and reciprocity are at the heart of our communication and practice. Together we’ll honor our collaborators’ perspectives, identities, and diverse ways of thinking and we’ll hold each other accountable for doing so. Story+ is an inclusive space where all students have an equal right to research, learn, and express themselves. We will not tolerate harassment or harms of any form.
Please browse below to learn more about Story+ projects from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Story+ is funded by Together Duke and administered by the Franklin Humanities Institute in conjunction with Bass Connections, with support from Duke University Libraries.
Questions? We like questions! Email us at fhi@duke.edu!
Keep Scrolling For Our 2023 Projects!

Get Involved
For Undergraduate Applicants
- Story+ Summer 2023 applications are now closed. Thanks to all who applied.
- Please review the Policies and Expectations for Story+ Student Researchers.
For Graduate Applicants
- Story+ Summer 2023 applications are now closed. Thanks to all applied!
- Please review our Policies and Expectations for Story+ Graduate Mentors/Project Managers.
- You might also find it helpful to review our Policies and Expectations for Team Leaders.
For Faculty and Staff
-
Our Story+ Call for Proposals for Summer 2023 is now closed. Thanks to all who submitted proposals.
-
Please review our Policies and Expectations for Team Leaders
Statement on Diversity & Inclusion
Summer 2023 Projects
Overview: 50 Days of Kindness is a public storytelling project that highlights the creativity and wisdom of people who have experienced incarceration. Difficult experiences often lead to the greatest wisdom; people experiencing... read more »
Topic(s)
Arts, Incarceration, Resilience, Trauma
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Overview: Over the past three years, a Duke Bass Connections team conducted oral history interviews about the developments in state-level residential mortgage markets that set the stage for economic turmoil in 2007-08 and beyond.... read more »
Topic(s)
Deregulation, Finance, History, Podcast, Public Policy
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Overview: This project interrogates the hoopskirt as an artefact of racist, sexist, and heteronormative practices since the antebellum era that have persisted under the guise of “white Southern” heritage and Confederate nostalgia.... read more »
Topic(s)
Archives, Embodiment, Fashion, History, Queer Studies
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Overview: Be part of a once-in-a-lifetime event! Students tell the story of Duke University in the upcoming Duke Centennial exhibit. As part of the team in University Archives, the students will select 100 items that highlight the... read more »
Topic(s)
Archives, Duke Centennial, Exhibits, History, Libraries
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Overview: The Duke Campus Farm (DCF) seeks a team of people to help its plants tell their stories. Erlene’s Green Cotton, Brightleaf tobacco, Queen Anne crowder peas – these are some of the crops we grow that hold... read more »
Topic(s)
Climate, Ethnobotany, Food Systems
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Overview: After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, OBGYNs and family medicine practitioners in states with bans or severe restrictions on abortion realized within days that their ability to provide the nationwide... read more »
Topic(s)
Health, Medicine, Podcast, Reproductive Justice, Visual Media, Women
This project is no longer accepting applications.
Completed Projects
This team will be diving into the Blunt Family Papers, three... read more »
The Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library currently holds... read more »
Ordination of women continues to remain a controversial issue... read more »
The Just and Equal Durham Project (JED) at the Pauli Murray... read more »
Our story starts a millennium ago, in the ninth century. A... read more »
For the Story+ summer 2018 project, An Illustrated Memoir of... read more »
This Story+ project focused on empowering girls in Appalachia... read more »
As part of its larger public engagement initiative, the National... read more »
In this Story+ project, we will tackle diverse issues related... read more »
During this collision of artistic and academic energies,... read more »