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Archive: March 2016 (12 Posts)

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Veteran Spotlight: Richard Overton

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest post by Christy Chason, liaison specialist for the Veterans History Project (VHP). When our friends at the American Red Cross of Greater Texas told me they were sending us the interview of Richard Arvine Overton, who is thought to be the oldest living American war veteran, I got very excited, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Here Comes Peter Cottontail: Some Cultural History

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: Some of this research, and an interview with the author,  is being included in a report on CBS Sunday Morning, which should air Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. While I was doing the research for my recent blog post on the history of the Easter Bunny, I noticed that the Library of Congress has …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

World Storytelling Day: Stories of Strong Women

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

March 20 is World Storytelling Day.  Tying storytelling with the equinox in March is thought to have originated in Sweden as Alla berättares dag (all storytellers day) in 1991 or 1992. Other countries joined to celebrate storytelling on the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

A Band Apart: The Veterans History Project Features Women at War

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest post by Owen Rogers, liaison specialist for the Veterans History Project (VHP). Looking back on my childhood in rural Connecticut, I was fortunate to have grandparents who lived just a few houses away. One of my favorite pastimes was to move from room to room in their house, pointing out …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The Persian Gulf War: 25 Years Later

Posted by: Megan Harris

“I’ve been told by older veterans they had hangovers that lasted longer than that war.”—Dawn Stratton As Marine Corps Captain Dawn Stratton’s comment in her Veterans History Project (VHP) oral history makes clear, the Persian Gulf War—which took place from August 1990 to the end of February 1991—was a short one, lasting as long in …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Spring Tonics

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Cultures that rely on limited local sources of food in the winter often have traditions about the restorative and curative powers of foods and herbs that become available in the spring.  The American Folklife Center’s Coal River Folklife Project, headed by Mary Hufford, documented folklife in West Virginia’s Coal River Valley (1992 to 1999).  The …