Blog Round-Up: Primary Source Highlights for Veterans Day

The first Armistice Day, on November 11, 1919,  commemorated the ceasefire between the Allied nations and Germany. Since 1954, the U.S. has designated November 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. conflicts. The Teaching with the Library of Congress blog offers many entry points to primary sources from the Library of Congress to help your students study and honor the contributions of veterans.

Letters from Home: Celebrating Veterans and those At Home

Service men and women away from home have always prompted a variety of methods of communication. The Library’s Veterans History Project captures the lives of America’s service men and women through narratives, correspondence and visual materials. Auditory and visual learners can listen and read imaginatively to evaluate emotions conveyed through print and non-print primary sources produced by veterans and their families.

The Veterans History Project: Making Veterans’ Stories Come to Life

Though television and the Internet bring images of war into the home, many students might not be aware of the day-to-day experiences of those who have fought on the front lines. One way to immerse students in these stories is through the Veterans History Project from the Library of Congress.

Remembering Armistice Day: “I Did My Bit for Democracy”

Explore the origins of Veterans Day: President Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day on November 11, 1919, to mark the armistice, or ceasefire agreement, between the Allied nations and Germany that went into effect “on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918.”

Two Asian Pacific Americans’ Wartime Experiences: Personal Histories from the Veterans History Project

Two personal histories collected by the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress can help students examine the sacrifices that Japanese Americans made during wartime.

The Vietnam War: One Veteran’s Experience

What can one individual’s experience tell us about a larger historical event? The Veterans History Project (VHP) contains over 80,000 oral history collections that document the experiences of America’s military veterans. To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Vietnam War, VHP will highlight a series of collections related to Vietnam veterans. These collections have been compiled to offer a glimpse into what veteran Tom Hagel called the “millions of Vietnam Wars.”