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Clorisa Phillips

Storytelling for the Greater Good

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Author Bio

ONE SENTENCE

Clorisa Phillips is an author and historian who believes ordinary people carry stories that history can't afford to lose.

SHORT PARAGRAPH

Clorisa Phillips is an author and historian advocating for Storytelling for the Greater Good: finding where personal and family history intersect with the larger arc of public History. A graduate of William & Mary with a master's and PhD from the University of Virginia, she's writing your history is Our History, the first title in her Storytelling for the Greater Good series.

FULL BIO

Clorisa Phillips is an author and historian who believes ordinary people carry stories that history can't afford to lose. She advocates for Storytelling for the Greater Good: finding the places where personal and family history intersect with the larger arc of public History, and making the case that those intersections matter to everyone. A graduate of William & Mary, she holds a master's degree and PhD from the University of Virginia, where she received a doctoral research award for her work in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere; her first book is titled your history is Our History.

The Book

SYNOPSIS

Your family holds stories that history can't afford to lose. Most people never realize it. The moments your grandparents survived, the decisions your ancestors made, the ways ordinary life unfolded across generations are not just family memories. They are part of the historical record, and right now they are in danger of disappearing.

In your history is Our History: Why Your Family's Story Belongs in History – And How to Find It and Tell It, Clorisa Phillips makes the case that the historical record is incomplete without the stories ordinary people carry, and that filling those gaps is something any of us can do. Drawing on her work at the intersection of personal and family history and the larger arc of public History, Clo guides readers through finding the moments where their own lives and family histories intersect with history, researching and placing those stories in context, and telling them in a way that serves us all. This is Storytelling for the Greater Good, and this book is where it begins. your history is Our History is the first in the Storytelling for the Greater Good series.

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your history is Our History: Why Your Family's Story Belongs in History — And How to Find It and Tell It

Storytelling for the Greater Good, Book One

Coming Soon

Clorisa Phillips

clophillips.com · Newsletter: Intersections

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The historical record has gaps — and you can fill them.

Most people think of "history" as something written by historians about famous people. Clo argues the record is incomplete without ordinary family stories, and that recovering them is work anyone can do, not just credentialed researchers.

Every year we don't ask, a story disappears for good.

A generational-urgency angle — grandparents and older relatives are the last living link to stories that, once lost, can't be reconstructed. Timely for any outlet covering aging, memory, or family history.

Your family's ordinary moments are already part of a bigger story.

The "Storytelling for the Greater Good" thesis — personal history and public History aren't separate categories. A single family tradition or keepsake can illuminate a whole era.

This is a guide, not a memoir.

Unlike most family-history books, which tell one family's story, this one hands readers a repeatable process — how to find the story, research it, place it in context, and tell it well — so they can do the same work for their own family.