For more than four centuries, Muslim Americans have contributed to the nation’s history, culture, and civic life. Yet too many of these lived experiences remain absent from our shared public memory.
As a public humanities initiative, we preserve, interpret, and share these stories so they become part of America’s enduring legacy — fostering belonging, deepening connection, and building a more complete understanding of who we are as a nation.
I’ve spent years walking through museums filled with extraordinary objects. Almost every time, I left with the same feeling. I never met anyone.
The Museum of Muslim Stories exists because behind every object is a life. Behind every story is a person. And every person deserves to be remembered.
We are living in a time when many communities are struggling to see themselves reflected in the stories that shape our world. Across the United States and around the globe, people are navigating increasing division, displacement, misinformation, and the loss of connection to one another.
Too often, communities lose control of their own narratives, allowing others to define who they are. When stories are excluded from our collective memory, belonging begins to erode — not only for those whose voices are missing, but for all of us.
At the same time, living memory is disappearing.
The experiences carried by parents, grandparents, elders, neighbors, and community leaders — the journeys, traditions, sacrifices, and everyday moments that rarely appear in history books — are being lost with each passing generation. Once these stories disappear, they cannot be recovered.
Every story preserved today strengthens our nation’s public memory tomorrow.
To foster understanding, belonging, and human connection by preserving, interpreting, and sharing Muslim stories as an essential part of America’s shared history.
A world where we see one another as human first, where every community finds itself reflected in our shared story, and where stories build bridges across generations, cultures, and communities.
History is not only preserved through documents and artifacts. It lives in the stories people carry — their memories, traditions, journeys, and everyday experiences.
We believe every community deserves to find itself reflected in America’s shared story. As a public humanities initiative, we preserve living memory because the stories we choose to remember shape our understanding of ourselves, our neighbors, and our future.
Our work is guided by five beliefs
Stories remind us that before labels, differences, or assumptions, we are people.
When people see themselves reflected in our nation’s story, they know they belong.
The most valuable archives still live within people.
Stories are shared with communities, not taken from them.
When every community is represented, our collective story becomes more complete.
Together they form a single ecosystem — stewarding the work, preserving the memory, and building the destination where these stories endure.
We cultivate partnerships, build public trust, steward resources, and create the infrastructure that makes this work possible.
UNSIRA preserves living memory through oral histories, digital storytelling, archives, and community participation, ensuring stories remain accessible for future generations.
A national museum where Muslim stories become part of America’s enduring cultural legacy through exhibitions, education, scholarship, and public engagement.
Peace Pavilion is guided by a board and a growing circle of founding partners who share a belief that these stories belong in America’s public memory. Together they bring expertise across museums, education, technology, law, philanthropy, and cultural stewardship — shaping how the institution is built and holding it accountable to the communities it serves. Their early commitment is what turns this work from an idea into an enduring institution.
A generation that finds itself reflected in America’s shared story.
Neighbors who recognize themselves in one another’s stories, discovering a shared humanity.
Hundreds of thousands of lived experiences preserved through storytelling, ensuring they become part of our nation’s public memory.
A richer public humanities landscape where Muslim stories are recognized as an essential part of America’s cultural heritage.
A Museum of Muslim Stories that inspires belonging, curiosity, and connection for generations to come.
The Legacy We Hope to Leave
Not a building, but a country that remembers more of itself.
The Destination
Every story gathered today builds toward the Museum of Muslim Stories — a permanent home for America’s shared memory.
Whether you share your story, become a Story Steward, support our work, or partner with us, you help ensure that today’s lived experiences become part of tomorrow’s public memory.
Other ways to help
