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New National Collection  The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is seeking volunteer youth, community, and school partners to assist in collecting oral histories from veterans of America's wars. The goal of the Veterans History Project is to create a new national collection of audio and video recordings, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, drawings, and home movies that tell the stories not only of the veterans who served their country, but also of the civilians who served the war efforts on the home front, and the families and friends who anxiously awaited their return. The project has particular urgency in light of the fact that the number of veterans is dwindling by 1,500 every day. The Library will create a permanent collection to preserve these stories for future generations, and to make them accessible through a searchable national catalog, website, and public exhibitions. The project encompasses veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars. Volunteer partners are critical to the project's success. Individual partners may be teachers, students, or community members; organizational partners may be community organizations, schools, museums or libraries, or local historical societies. Organizational partners can help by recruiting their members as volunteers; providing publicity, equipment, funds, or interview training; and organizing education programs. They can also set up publicly accessible local archives for those who wish to keep collections in their local communities. There is a special need for youth partners -- classes of students and teachers in middle and secondary schools who arrange to interview war veterans and record their histories as a group or class project following the Library's guidelines. It's an opportunity for students to learn history from those who lived it -- and for their work to have a public impact far beyond the classroom walls.
To get started, visit the Library of Congress website at www.loc.gov/folklife/vets, or write for detailed information on recording a veteran's oral history or donating documents. The website provides sample interview questions, technical tips, and equipment specifications, as well as forms for reporting and submitting the information you collect. For more information, contact: Veterans History Project, Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20540-4615. Phone toll-free: (888) 371-5848; E-mail: vohp@loc.gov.
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