Top of page
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is the first of a two-part guest post by Joseph Patton, a Library of Congress Junior Fellow working with the Veterans History Project this summer. Last month, I found myself walking the National Mall in Washington, DC, after the sun had set and the lights blazed on the monuments. The way they are …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
This past spring, the Veterans History Project (VHP) has had the pleasure of hosting Kluge Fellow Simona Tobia of Reading University in the UK. Simona’s interest in the human experience of war fits beautifully with VHP’s mission and collections. Her research on interrogation during World War II is fascinating, and in order to share it …
Posted in: AFC Reading Room Visitors, Oral History, Veterans History Project, World War II
Posted by: Megan Harris
In a satisfying moment of blog synchronicity, while we at the Veterans History Project are celebrating the accomplishments of our volunteer interviewers, another LC blog is focusing on student interviewers–specifically, those at Harlem High School in Machesney Park, Illinois. In a blog post on Teaching With the Library of Congress, Harlem High School teachers Nick …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest post by Monica Mohindra, Head of Program Communication and Coordination, Veterans History Project. Did you ever work or live someplace that had inspiring quotes or poetry on the walls? “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” These evocative words from Maya Angelou have graced the …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
May 8, 1945: The Allies accept Germany’s unconditional surrender, thus marking the end of the war in Europe. Despite the fact that the war is not yet over, the world celebrates; there is dancing in the streets of cities from London to Los Angeles. The date becomes known as V-E Day, or “Victory in Europe …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest post by Matt McCrady, VHP Digital Conversion Specialist. Of the thousands of veterans’ stories archived with the Veterans History Project, the story of a Marine PFC known simply as Lucky stands out as truly unique. Lucky didn’t tell his own story for the project. Lucky left no letters or diaries, …
Posted in: Animals, Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
In the diary that he kept while serving in France during World War I, Private First Class James Rudolph Sorenson made short entries describing each day’s most notable events. On August 11, 1918, he wrote, “Fired [gun barrages]. Valley was shelled heavily twice by the enemy. Our battery lost some horses and had one man …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest post by VHP Digital Conversion Specialist Matt McCrady, and is the fourth in a five-part series of blog posts related to correspondence in Veterans History Project collections. Like the soldiers discussed in the 1980s song about the Vietnam War, “19,” Corporal Robert Geisler was just 19 years old when he …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
This is the third in a series of blog posts related to correspondence in Veterans History Project collections. Not long after I started working at the Veterans History Project (VHP), I came across a collection that immediately mesmerized me. Pertaining to Army Corporal Jose Mares, who became a prisoner of war during the Korean War, …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project