VFC Research Projects
The Veterans History Project
The Vermont Folklife Center has joined with the Library of Congress and its American Folklife Center in the Veterans History Project. This national initiative will honor our country's national war veterans and those who served in support of them.
Background
Senator Jim Jeffords (right) interviewing WW II veteran Leonard Wing for the Vermont Folklife Center's Veterans History Project |
The U.S. Congress voted for legislation to create the Veterans History Project in October of 2000 because Congress recognized the need to collect wartime memories from the diminishing population of veterans. They also realized the importance of engaging the American public in its own history.
Objective
To document veterans' service and the civilian war effort--for World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Desert Storm--through interviews and such primary resource materials as letters, diaries, photographs, and service-related memorabilia, which will be on deposit at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the Vermont Folklife Center.
Activities
The Vermont Folklife Center agreed to participate in the project for the State of Vermont. We will identify and survey relevant existing collections in Vermont repositories--particularly audio- and videotape interviews with veterans--and negotiate for the transfer and/or duplication of these materials for deposit in the Library of Congress and Vermont Folklife Center collections. We will identify current and ongoing interview projects and link these projects to the larger VFC and LOC projects and will encourage veterans' organizations to partner with us.
We will offer training, ongoing consultation, and technical assistance to community-based interview projects in towns around the state, which will be undertaken by libraries, historical societies, veterans' organizations and schools. Students will participate by assisting in the research process at such participating organizations as the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington and the Veterans Hospital in Hartford.
We will solicit names of potential interviewees and conduct selective interviews statewide with veterans and people who were involved with civilian service. We will catalogue and process these materials for deposit in the Vermont Folklife Center and Library of Congress collections.
Outcome
We are planning a minimum of ten interview projects statewide yielding approximately 15 interviews per project for a total of 150 interviews; also an additional 20 interviews will be conducted by the VFC. These partnerships will facilitate the development of relationships with local groups that will offer the VFC a direct link to people in each of these communities. The materials generated by the VFC and other researchers will form the basis for subsequent public programming-radio, exhibition, publication, etc.
For more information, visit the National Veteran's history page at the Library of Congress :: link
Hours of Operation
Vermont Folklife Center
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