A Monroe County, Tenn., man wants to encourage local storytellers and historians to record the legends of their family members and residents in their neighborhood.

“Every person in the community can be recognized and remembered and become a part of community history,” Tom Cormier said. “It may seem mundane, but you can’t imagine what it will be like generations from now when the young people hear the dialect and stories that are told now.”

Mr. Cormier is the founder of the Great Heritage Campaign, which is expected to begin a Chattanooga chapter soon. The campaign offers storytellers a systematic process of logging their histories on the Internet at no charge. Pictures and audio can also be included.

Once the histories are posted, they can be recorded onto disc for permanent keeping, officials said.

Mr. Cormier said he is in the process of gathering a list of interested storytellers, neighborhood and nonprofit organization leaders who would be interested in attending the Great Heritage Campaign’s first local meeting when the date is scheduled.

“There are campaigns getting under way in the United States, Canada, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh,” according to the Great Heritage Campaign community handbook, written by Mr. Cormier and Dennis Stack, who also helped to create the campaign.

The purpose is to preserve the past and strengthen the future of families and communities, according to the handbook.

Betty Ruth Robinson, the Chattanooga Housing Authority board resident commissioner and a resident at one of the housing authority’s high-rise buildings for the elderly, said she looks forward to seeing Mr. Cormier’s plan implemented locally.

“(Earlier this year), we had octogenarians over here telling about how they grew up in the Chattanooga area,” said Ms. Robinson, president of the Mary Walker Tower’s foundation. “I enjoyed hearing how they were raised and they don’t mind telling you about it.”

Michelle Self said she wants to use the program to document the experience of her son, Darren Self, a 2008 UTC graduate who has been hiking the Appalachian Trail since March 12.

“He has a recorder with him,” she said. “When he gets back, I’m going to do a whole section.”