WORCESTER, Mass. - For two decades, the Worcester Women’s Oral History Project has been capturing the stories of Worcester women via wide-ranging interviews about their careers, triumphs and setbacks. Recently, the project celebrated a major milestone with its 500th interview.

“I never really gave much thought to how much would be collected, or how many champions there would become for the project,” said founder Linda Rosenlund. “It really is a resource for the community and makes a difference in people's lives.”

The project was inspired by first National Women’s Rights Convention, held in Worcester in 1850. There is very little written history about the event, and Rosenlund and others involved in the larger Worcester Women’s History Project wanted to prevent this lack of history from repeating itself.

“A thousand people from all over the country gathered, and we were so frustrated by not having any historical context,” Rosenlund said. “We started thinking, 'Isn’t this silly? We’re not capturing current voices for the future'.”

The medium for the project - recorded interviews transcribed and catalogued - came to Rosenlund during a trip to New York City roughly 20 years ago.

“I was walking through Grand Central Station and came across a sound booth that looked really interesting, and I wandered in to see what it was all about,” Rosenlund said. “It was inviting people to bring in someone that was close to them to gather their story, and I brought that back to Worcester and began capturing local women’s voices for the future.”

Each interviewee is asked questions focused on the same themes as the 1850 convention: education, health, work, politics and community involvement. Local college students often conduct the interviews as part of their coursework.

Several of those students attended a celebration held at the Worcester Public Library earlier this month, and Katie Ben and Eileen Rodriguez of Clark University spoke to the impact of conducting the interviews.

“The most surprising thing for me was how inspiring every woman’s story here was,” Ben said. “I know everyone who has participated in this project, including myself, was really blown away with the lived experiences.”

“This project brings an element into the classroom that our other assignments do not, and that’s learning about our community through firsthand experiences and conversations,” added Rodriguez.

Rosenlund estimates roughly 1,000 students have participated over the years, and has been humbled by the lessons those students have learned from gathering women’s stories.

“I think sometimes with the younger generation, I know it happened to me when I was younger, is that you look at someone who looks so put together and professional, has a great job and seems to have everything, then you learn that they have had life experiences that you may have never, never thought they did,” Rosenlund said.

The list of women who have been interviewed over the years includes CEOs, activists, a Holocaust survivor, veterans, musicians, athletes, politicians, faith leaders and more. Rosenlund said some of the most captivating stories come from unexpected sources.

“Something that I’m really inspired by is that oftentimes it’s not the people who have all of the accolades and education and experiences that are the most interesting,” Rosenlund said. “It’s actually the ordinary people, the very ordinary women taking care of their families and communities.”

The milestone and celebration arrive just before a busy year for the Worcester Women’s History Project as it celebrates the 175th anniversary of the 1850 National Women’s Rights Convention.

Those events will begin on January 11 with Abby Kelley Foster’s Birthday Bash from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The White Room on Green Street.

Other events will include a speaker series, the launch of a coloring book featuring 20 local women in Worcester’s history, and a recreation of the 1850 convention at Mechanics Hall on Oct. 22 and 23.