The Miners’ Story Project gathers, preserves and shares stories about life in the mines and around mining communities in the southwest United States. To provide a recording space and promote the project, a trailer clad entirely in copper was built. The trailer features a profile portrait of a copper miner whose pixilated image is made up of small speaker holes that broadcast oral histories. When completed, the Miners’ Story Project will become part of the new Mineral Museum at the Flandrau Science Center, complementing the museum’s world-class collection of gems and minerals with the sounds and stories of the miners who carried them from the earth. The project partnered with local community centers to encourage old-time miners to visit the booth and record their stories. Younger school trips can visit the trailer to hear the oral histories emanating from the giant speaker, located behind the water-jet-cut circles that make up the miner’s portrait.

“I loved the gritty, down-home qualities of this project, and the friendly, approachable design of its pink caravan.”
“This mobile interpretive trailer brings the community’s story to the people in a genuine way that is inviting and enchanting. Two familiar concepts—trailers and oral-history books—in an unfamiliar marriage.”