The following is a guest blog post by Justina Moloney, archivist with the Veterans History Project, and Kerry Ward, liaison specialist. Seventy-five years ago, bells rang out around the world as Nazi Germany surrendered its armed forces – ending the war in Europe. The days following the surrender were filled with celebration, but the thought …
When the war ended, Gladyce “Pepper” Pederson Nypan cried, her tears dripping down into her dinner of mashed potatoes and gravy. Benjamin Cooper wrote a love letter to his wife. Alfred Newman watched his comrades fire off live ammunition, so intense was their celebrating. Jerome Yellin was still high in the sky over Japan, completing …
The following is a guest blog post by Hope O’Keeffe, an attorney in the Library’s Office of General Counsel, and an ardent supporter of the Veterans History Project. To read a previous guest post about her family’s history of proud military service, go here. This is my grandfather, John McLaughlin, quarantined during the 1918 flu …
In this time of national crisis, the staff of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) wants our readers and participants to know that our thoughts are with you. We recognize, now more than ever, there is a collective need to look at and remember individual experiences, so that we never forget what sacrifice …
Flashbulb memories are those vivid, autobiographical memories that form when we learn of a particularly surprising, traumatic or impactful event. These kinds of memories burrow themselves deep into our memory banks, and often remain dormant until triggered to resurface. An image. A sound. A scent. Anything, really, can be the catalyst that sets the wheels …
She had already made it five years past the century mark when she finally sat down to share her story for the Veterans History Project (VHP) in 2002. Less than six weeks later, she was gone. Alice Leona Mikel Duffield was a beater of odds. A trailblazer. A go-getter. A caring soul. I’d say that …
During this global pandemic, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) continues to meet its mission of collecting, preserving and making accessible the wartime remembrances of U.S. military veterans. While we recognize during normal circumstances what we do is incredibly important, currently we have taken steps to modify the way we work because the …
As African American History Month concludes in 2020, the AFC is proud to announce the culmination of the Civil Rights History Project (CRHP) with the online release of the last batch of the 145 video interviews recorded with veteran activists for the collection. All the interviews are available on the Civil Rights History Project page, at …
Whether crafting, performing, cooking, writing, or painting, art has the dynamic power to alleviate stress, build connections, and even stimulate recovery. For veterans and active duty service-members, art affords an outlet through which they can articulate – and process – what they experienced during their service. From November 5-9th, the Library of Congress Veterans History …