Smithsonian's Stories from Main Street is developed by the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, in association with Better Lemon Creative Audio and The Peale Center.
The mission of Museum on Main Street is to provide access to the Smithsonian for small-town America. MoMS engages small-town audiences and brings attention to underserved rural communities. Since the program began in 1994, MoMS and its partner state humanities councils have served more than 1,700 communities with a median population of 8,000. Through community programs and creative activities, exhibition hosts create a launching point for storytelling. That became the inspiration for Stories from Main Street, MoMS' story gathering initiative, which launched in 2011. Today, MoMS and its story partner, The Peale Center, work together to encourage story collection in rural towns, curate gathered content, and make it available.