Every Family, Every Story
Every family has a story the record left out.
The WILLA Foundation researches, preserves, and shares the histories of American families and communities, especially the ones nobody wrote down. We are named for Willa King, a mother who taught her daughter to read America like a document: to look at a street, a neighborhood, a family photo, and ask what happened here and who was left out. We carry that lesson forward through documentary film, photography, archival preservation, and oral history, so that people of every background can know where they come from and see themselves in the nation's story.
The Work
We start where the records thin out: a trunk of letters, a name in a ledger, a photograph nobody can identify anymore. Then we follow the thread, working with photographers, filmmakers, and archivists to turn what a family kept into a story anyone can see.
The Family Archive Project
Your family's history might be sitting in a closet right now. Each year we take on a small number of families: we digitize their letters and photographs, record an oral history with an elder, and produce a short documentary the family keeps. Families of every background are welcome. We will be straight with you about what a project costs, and we look for grant funding to carry as much of it as we can.
Willa Rising Fellowships
We support artists at different stages of their careers who use their work to preserve and tell stories that might otherwise be lost. By meeting artists where they are, we help build a community of storytellers committed to keeping history honest, personal, and alive.
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
— Ida B. Wells
Stay Connected!
Stay connected with The WILLA Foundation for updates, screenings, and the stories we are uncovering. Join us in preserving the histories that were never written down. Together, we make a meaningful impact.