Norwich — Tales of everyday life, with a bit of the flavor of city history and the personalities that helped shape it, are being recorded this week at the Otis Library and will be preserved both there and at the Library of Congress.

Chuck and Mary Norris of Norwich emerged from the quiet conference room on the second floor of Otis Library after having spent 40 minutes in a recorded conversation about their 51 years of experiences together, their love of Norwich and theater and each other.

Mary Norris helped found Chelsea Players and has acted in and directed numerous plays in community theater throughout southeastern Connecticut. Chuck, a Navy veteran who retired as a chief electronics technician, has volunteered as sound engineer on productions by the former American Musical Theater.

“We've been married for 51 years, so I don't think there are many surprises left,” Chuck Norris said on whether their conversation broke any new ground in their relationship.

But wait, Mary Norris jumped in, he did talk about going out with another girl back in high school before the couple met. “I never heard that one before,” she said.

The Norrises are among 18 couples scheduled to record their interviews and conversations as part of StoryCorps, a national oral history project that has recorded more than 60,000 such conversations across the country for the past 13 years.

StoryCorps' three-day visit to Otis through Thursday is part of the library's designation as one of the top five libraries in the nation this spring by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. StoryCorps is visiting all five designated libraries as well as the five museums designated as museums of excellence, said Jill Glaser, national facilitator and manager for StoryCorps.

Glaser and fellow national facilitator Roselyn Almonte are in Norwich this week recording the conversations in the makeshift studio in the Literacy Volunteers conference room at Otis. They mainly stay quiet during the conversations, but might chime in with a question if there is a lull or to spark a certain topic, Glaser said.

The two are based in Brooklyn, N.Y., StoryCorps' home office, but don't spend much time there. Glaser, who has worked at StoryCorps for four years, has a background in theater and counseling. Almonte just started working at StoryCorps in September. She has a degree in philosophy and women's studies.

StoryCorps is completing one initiative to celebrate the 100th anniversary of National Parks and another called “Military Voices” to record stories of veterans. One new initiative, “Out Loud,” centers on experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and questioning people, and another called “The Justice Project” seeks stories from people who have been incarcerated.

“It's a treat for us to visit these places and hear their histories,” Glaser said.

Earlier in the day, the two had heard downtown businessman Jeff Lord and Otis staff member Veronica Marshall talking about Lord's locally renowned uncle, Edward Lord, a downtown property mogul, philanthropist, owner of movie theaters in their downtown heyday and eccentric character. Lord died in 2009 at age 98 and his heirs now run the Edward and Mary Lord Foundation, which has donated funds to numerous local programs and institutions, including Otis Library.

“Norwich seems to be a good, exciting place,” Almonte said.

c.bessette@theday.com