Project Guidelines

The Minnesota’s Greatest Generation project is one we take very seriously, and we are committed to providing a forum where all Minnesotans will feel comfortable in telling their stories. Therefore, we ask all contributors to respect the following guidelines for submissions:

• All stories must have a Minnesota connection. The main character must have lived or been stationed in Minnesota at some time during the 1930-1960 project time frame.
  
  
• All stories must have occurred within the 1930 to 1960 timeframe of the project. While the lives and experiences of Minnesota’s Greatest Generation are not confined to those three decades, the scope of this project is focused on the trials and triumphs of that period.
  
  
• More than one story may be contributed.
  
  
• All stories must be kept to 8,000 characters or less (about 2 pages, single-spaced). Longer stories may be broken up into chapters and sent in installments. Installments should be numbered: Story Title: Part I; Story Title: Part II; etc.
  
  
• Be honest. Tell your story as accurately as you can. If you are telling someone else’s story, make that clear, and try to verify the details for accuracy.
  
  
• Be respectful. The Share Your Story website is designed to be family-friendly. Do not submit material that is unlawful, defamatory, threatening, obscene, racially offensive, or in any other way objectionable. Material deemed inappropriate will not be accepted for publication on the website.
  
  
• Offensive words will be edited by replacing the word with ****.
  
  
• Please post only in English. If foreign words or phrases are included, please provide a translation. If no translation is provided, foreign words and phrases will be deleted.
  
  
• Do not post personal information – either your own, or that of others – with your story. Mailing addresses and telephone numbers will be removed from postings.
  
  
• No advertising postings will be permitted.
  
  
• MHS reserves the right to reject any story posted at the Editor’s discretion, and is under no obligation to publish any work submitted.
  
  
• Please use the email contact for questions pertaining to story submissions only. Please do not use it to report duplicate postings, errors in spelling or grammar, etc. Please be patient – all requests for help will be addressed as quickly as possible.
  
  
• See writing tips for story ideas and helpful hints.
  

Legal Guidelines

Ownership of Submitted Materials
All original written and photographic materials submitted to the Share Your Story website become the property of the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS). MHS reserves the right to edit, reproduce, publish, distribute, and perform this material. If you do not wish to grant such rights to MHS, you may choose not to submit material to this project.

Copyright Laws
International and U.S. copyright laws currently in effect will be strictly observed on this website. The contributor is responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions to publish copyrighted materials or previously unpublished materials owned by other persons, and must provide proper citations. By submitting materials to this website, you warrant that the work submitted:

• is your own work, and that you have the right to make it available to MHS
• does not infringe on any copyright law and that necessary permissions have been granted for publication online
• is not defamatory

Submission of materials to this website constitutes agreement on your part to indemnify MHS against all legal fees, damages and other legal expenses that may be incurred by MHS due to your breach of the above warranty.

Privacy Policy
Information supplied to us through the registration process is used only to confirm your access to the Share Your Story website, and will not be made available to others without your prior consent. Consenting participants may be contacted by MHS for the following reasons:

• the Minnesota's Greatest Generation project team would like to learn more about your story
• the project team has received an email indicating that someone would like to contact you regarding your story. The project team will not give out your email address, but will forward such emails on to you, giving you the option to respond.

Please see the Minnesota Historical Society’s Privacy Policy for more information.