About

My name is Tricia Velure. I love talking with older people, always have. We tend to share a favorite topic – “the old days” – which has inspired every part of my life.

My earliest memories are filled with the elders my parents took me to visit while growing up on the family farm my great grandfather started in North Dakota. Older people far outnumbered kids, and I took every opportunity to ask them about one-room schools, basket socials,

and how to do everything from churn butter to butcher chickens. My curiosity of the past led me to bachelor and master’s degrees in history, while learning the arts of interviewing, writing and archiving along the way.

After working a few years for North Dakota’s largest county historical society, I surprised myself with a 19-year career in public relations in Minneapolis-St. Paul. I primarily served Native American communities and clients – most notably the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community – and I admired their respect for elders above all else. Their desire to capture and share oral history nurtured my appreciation for stories from everyday life, which often feel ordinary when lived, but turn extraordinary when told. For me, storytelling is the art of sharing those memories, and I’ve been doing it since I learned to write.

Storyography focuses on capturing elders’ life stories and sharing those stories with their families. As a historian and biographer, I’m giving current and future generations the gift of history. Spending time with elders is my greatest joy, and helping them preserve and share their stories with their kids and grandkids is my life’s purpose.

Please contact me to discuss how I can help your family preserve its history.

Elders: my term of respect for older adults, borrowed from Native American cultures, because elders are our keepers of wisdom

Home base: Minneapolis-St. Paul, and happy to travel or Zoom as needed

Past work experiences: Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Director of Public Relations); Goff Public (Director of Writing and Strategic Communication); Cass County Historical Society at Bonanzaville (Marketing Manager)

Master’s degree: History, magna cum laude, North Dakota State University

Undergraduate degrees: History and English, summa cum laude, Valley City State University