Welcome to Preserving Our Stories
Preserving Our Stories is a community-centered project dedicated to helping families archive and share their histories — with a particular focus on the Hmong community. It was developed through my capstone for the Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership at the University of Minnesota, and expanded through a fellowship with the Ramsey County Historical Society and the Center for Hmong Studies. What began with my own family's refugee photos and documents has grown into a guidebook, a toolkit, and a space for others to do the same.
I'm KaoLee Vang, author of Preserving Our Stories, Starting Your Family Archive. I'm a 1.5 generation Hmong American, and this project came out of my own experience — losing my father in 2024 and doing the work of sorting through photos, documents, and keepsakes myself. I wanted to create something that didn't exist for families like mine. My background in arts and cultural leadership, along with a fellowship with the Ramsey County Historical Society and the Center for Hmong Studies, helped me shape that experience into a practical guide. Community, accessibility, and making this kind of work available to everyone are at the center of everything I do here.
KaoLee Vang
Founder & Author