Hello to potential explorers of the Veterans History Project (VHP) archive! We’re so excited that you’re considering taking part in the American Folklife Center’s newest version of the Archive Challenge. VHP’s collections are nothing if not inspirational, and you are sure to find a wealth of material–everything from epic poems to wartime love letters and […]
This is a guest post by Sam Meier, a former LC Junior Fellow who is currently working on a variety of reference-related projects for the Veterans History Project (VHP). December 25, 1917 found William James Bean in quarantine at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York. Bean had been inducted into the Army a little more […]
The following is a guest post by Matt McCrady, Digital Conversion Specialist. United States participation in World War I lasted a little over a year, from April 1917 to November 1918, but the cost would be deeply imprinted on the entire history of the 20th century and the lives of the individuals who fought in […]
The following is a blog post by Lisa Gomez and Sam Meier, Junior Fellows working for the Veterans History Project (VHP) this summer. To read their previous blog posts from this summer, go here and here. Lisa’s flashback to 2015: I have a vivid memory of listening to Ashton Carter, then-Secretary of Defense, announce that the […]
You might have already seen Lisa Taylor’s blog post on female code breakers in World War II—but the topic is so rich, I couldn’t resist revisiting it in my own post! Read on for more details about VHP’s holdings of women cryptanalysts and an upcoming book talk by author Liza Mundy. This is the fourth […]
I often speak about how Veterans History Project (VHP) collections “bring the past to life,” but this phrase took on new meaning during an event that happened here at the Library a few weeks ago, a performance based on the Irving Greenwald collection, donated to VHP in December 2015. Greenwald, who served with the 308th […]
The following is a guest post by Christopher Pohlhaus, IT (Multi-media) Specialist for the Digital Scan Center, Library of Congress. Of the more than 100,000 collections that are part of the Veterans History Project, approximately 20% are digitized and available online. For those collections that are presented on the Veterans History Project (VHP) website, the […]
One look at Irving Greenwald’s diary is all it takes to bring to mind the old adage “good things come in small packages.” This World War I diary, written by Private Irving Greenwald from December 1917 to January 1919, was donated to the Veterans History Project (VHP) in December 2015 by his family. Original World […]
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” “The eyes are the window to the soul.” Trite as these sayings may be, they offer possible explanations for why we find portraits—whether they are painted, drawn, or photographed—so compelling. Anyone who has visited the National Portrait Gallery (my personal favorite of the Smithsonian museums), or browsed through […]
Happy 15th birthday to the Veterans History Project! On October 27, 2000, the 106th Congress signed Public Law 106-380, an act “to direct the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to establish a program to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans, and for other purposes.” […]
