Top of page

Category: Oral History

Bob Patrick, wearing a suit and tie, stands with a group of visiting high school students in a visitor's center. Patrick is on the left, while a retired soldier is on the right, with the student group in between. The room is decorated with photos and other items from VHP collections on the walls.

A Raised Hand

Posted by: Megan Harris

The following is a guest post by Bob Patrick, former director of the Veterans History Project.  As the Director of the Veterans History Project, I had many, many occasions to make presentations about VHP. I spoke at national conferences, on radio and TV, community events and ceremonies, educational institutions, Veterans’ gatherings and at numerous Library …

a man in a camouflage uniform

Three Days

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest blog post by Travis Bickford, head of programs and communications at The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). On August 28, 2005, it was 111 degrees in Baghdad. That kind of heat makes you conspiratorial, like “nah, this ain’t real” kind of heat. I’d only been in country a …

A group of five male soldiers in uniform (one soldier is shirtless) stands between an ambulance and a bunker covered with sandbags.

VHP’s New Vietnam War Research Tools

Posted by: Megan Harris

This Veterans Day, the Veterans History Project (VHP) is proud to debut a pair of research tools to help users discover and navigate our collections related to the Vietnam War. The newest installment of Serving: Our Voices pulls from VHP’s holdings of over 25,0000 narratives relating to Vietnam veterans. For this presentation, we have focused …

One Way to Mitigate the Risk of Post-Traumatic Stress

Posted by: Kerry Ward

The following is a guest blog post by veteran and Veterans History Project participant Earl Porter III.  Porter’s VHP interview can be found on our website. On September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I crested Mt. Katahdin in Maine, the start point for southbound Appalachian Trail (AT) “thru-hikers.” The AT is a 2,190+ …

AAPI hosts wokshop and itneriews with VHP Los Angeles, CA, May 2023.

Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with VHP interviews in Los Angeles

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest blog post by Andrew Huber, a liaison specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). The idea of an event focusing on collecting stories from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) veterans all stemmed from a simple question asked during a VHP workshop in 2020. I was teaching …

Travis Bickford and students at “The Things They Carried” exhibit

Carrying On

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest blog by Travis Bickford, supervisory liaison specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). Ten years ago, I read Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried.” Not for any burning desire; I had assigned it to a group of teenagers I was teaching from the south and west sides …

LIVE! At The Library – ‘The War and Peace of Tim O’Brien,’ Thursday, May 11th, 5pm-8pm

Posted by: Kerry Ward

The following is a question-and-answer session with author Tim O’Brien in anticipation of the film screening of The War and Peace of Tim O’Brien with special guest and director of the documentary, Aaron Matthews on Thursday, May 11th from 5pm-8pm at the Library of Congress. Prior to the film, enjoy live music from Gold Star sister, Barbara Martin, …

Marine woman next to a jet

Women’s History Month “Go Box” Display in the Veterans History Project Information Center

Posted by: Kerry Ward

The following is a guest blog post by Andy Wolanski, a liaison specialist for the Veterans History Project (VHP). The Veterans History Project (VHP) proudly celebrates Women’s History Month by highlighting female veterans across a wide variety of backgrounds, conflicts, and military service branches. The current “Go Box” display that I curated for the VHP …