2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

Veterans History Project: Preserving Veterans Memories
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BEST PRACTICES 2012
By Bob Patrick, Director, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library
of Congress
‘Dad, you never told us that before.’ or ‘I didn’t know she served in Vietnam.’ These
are comments that are often heard by individuals participating in the Library of
Congress Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center. Veterans from
World War I to the conflicts of today in Iraq and Afghanistan are providing their
memories of what it was like to serve in the military in a time of war. - What was
their human experience of war? How did they feel when Pearl Harbor was attacked?
How cold was it in Korea in 1952? How do they reflect on their service in Vietnam?
In looking back, what did military service mean to them later in life?
The Veterans History Project, or VHP, is a congressionally mandated effort to collect
the personal recollections of America’s wartime veterans. Over the last twelve
years, it has grown to be the largest oral history project of its type in American
history; amassing over 83,000 collections. At the heart of the project are audio and
video interviews of men and women talking about their experiences. VHP works to
ensure all stories get included, not only the accounts from the frontline fox holes
and combat mission cockpits but also from the medical tents and mess halls. It is
emphasized that all stories are important in providing a grassroots look of what it
was like to be there with the excitement, fear and even boredom of going to war.
The VHP also takes in original materials to include letters, photographs, personal
military papers, diaries and memoirs. These items expand the veteran’s story in a
very personal way by capturing innermost thoughts and impromptu pictures taken
of everything from barracks life to post combat mayhem. Letters often provide the
most intimate insights from a passionate love letter written on a flight to Vietnam
to a missive home from the trenches in World War I. Each of these items has the
fingerprints and DNA of our veterans going back nearly 100 years.
The Veterans History Project archive has become a resource for many researchers,
educators, and interested civilians. There has been a steady stream of inquiries for
scholarly works, books, documentaries and information searches. With over 100
new collections being received every week and 11,500 digitized collections on line,
the archive continues to expand and mature with an aspect of diversity in
experiences, military services, gender, and ethnicity.
To create such an expansive collection, VHP has relied on a nation-wide public
participation effort. Congress felt that by encouraging local volunteers to collect
these stories citizens, communities and family members would learn from the
veterans in their lives and better appreciate the sacrifices they made. The VHP
participation network extends to a number of organizations, institutions and
individuals. As expected, it has been embraced by veterans services organizations,
the Department of Veterans Affairs, historical societies and military related
museums. Retirement communities have provided a wealth of collections; as have
congressional offices that have provided continuous support through sponsorship of