The Library of Congress Veterans History Project will host a no-cost resource fair and workshop later this month to help community members can learn how to plan oral history interviews that could be archived at the Library.
“We want to hear, preserve and share the story of everybody who raised their right hand and swore an oath to defend the United States and its Constitution,” said Owen Rogers, liaison specialist at the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
The event will be held at the Library in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.
“We need to hear everyone’s story in order to have a full historical view of what it was like to experience U.S. military service,” he added.
Congress created the Veterans History Project 25 years ago to collect, preserve and make accessible veterans' first-hand oral histories and original manuscripts, letters and photograph collections that represent their individual experiences as members of the American armed forces.
To date, the Veterans History Project has collected more than 121,000 stories.
Rogers knows how important preserving veterans’ stories is. He was the only grandchild his grandfather talked to about his experience serving in World War II.
“Because of that, we got the story of how scary it was leaving Connecticut on a troop train for the first time and how scary it was asking my grandmother out on a first date as part of the story,” he said.
The Veterans History Project has a number of resources for volunteers who want to assist veterans with sharing their stories, Rogers said. A tool kit provides sample questions and a training video is available on the LOC’s website.
The resource fair and workshop will include sessions on learning fundamental oral history skills and how to use local resources to elevate research.
To learn more, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.