What is the Veterans History Project?
The Veterans
History Project (VHP) collects and preserves the
remembrances of American war veterans and
civilian workers who supported them. These
collections of first-hand accounts are archived
in the American Folklife Center at the Library
of Congress for use by researchers and to serve
as an inspiration for generations to come. The
Project collects remembrances of veterans who
served in World War I, World War II, the Cold
War, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War
(1990-1995), or Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts
(2001-present). U.S. citizen civilians who
actively supported war efforts (such as war
industry workers, USO workers, flight
instructors, medical volunteers, defense
contractors, etc.) are also invited to share
their valuable stories. VHP relies on volunteers
throughout the nation to collect veterans’
stories on behalf of the
Library of Congress.
These stories are made available to researchers
and the general public, both at the Library in
Washington, D.C., and via the VHP website
How is Austin Peay State
University Involved?
One requirement of the history
major at APSU is to complete a capstone course
for seniors. Dr. Greg Zieren, Professor of
History, saw the opportunity to teach oral
history techniques and prepare students over the
course of the semester. Dr. Dewey Browder,
Professor of History and a former Army
Lieutenant Colonel, saw the class as an
opportunity to begin a new oral history archive
for the Wings of Liberty Museum. He used
his community connections and ties to the 101st
Airborne Air Assault military post to promote
the project.
Ten students enrolled in the
first class in the spring semester of 2000.
The course content aimed at an overview of World
War II in diplomatic, military and strategic
terms. Students learned about oral history
as a discipline and the key developments in its
practice since the 1930s. After reading
Studs Terkel's The Good War, students also
performed practice interviews on people whose
experience of World War II was on the Home
Front. The project has grown to include
the Korean War Veterans.
PROJECT UPDATE
How many interviews have
been completed?
The project has so far
completed about 600 interviews.
How can Veterans get
involved?
Veterans can contact Dr. Greg
Zieren at
ziereng@apsu.edu. Who is
involved?
The
Tawani Foundation in partnership with the
Pritzker Military Library,
Fort Campbell
Historical Foundation, and Austin Peay State
University’s History Department and the Woodward
Library have joined together to provide access
to video-taped interviews and personal
narratives of U.S. Veterans.
How is the Woodward Library
involved?
The library
will have the responsibility to edit,
transcribe, and preserve the interviews. Additionally,
the library will design a web interface that
will make the interviews available to everyone
via the Web. The library will also host
and maintain a streaming server for the project. |
