Veterans History Project Collects War Stories
VHP
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 10, 2009
WASHINGTON – Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., announced Monday her office is participating in the Veterans History Project in conjunction with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, encouraging veterans to tell their stories for future generations.
“We honor the selfless service of our nation’s veterans, who put themselves in harm’s way so that Americans can enjoy the comforts of peace and freedom,” Shaheen said in a statement. “New Hampshire has more than 130,000 veterans, many of whom served in conflicts around the globe, and I’m proud to work with the Library of Congress to make sure New Hampshire veterans’ stories are available for future generations.”
The Veterans History Project, created in 2000, collects first-hand recollections of the nation’s wartime veterans. The stories are either written or recorded with a video camera or an audiotape recorder. The project also collects original diaries, letters, maps and photographs.
Shaheen said that there is information on her Web site for New Hampshire veterans who want to record their stories and that assistance is available from her staff.
The project relies on voluntary participation of veterans. The Library of Congress is receiving about 100 collections per week, and has about 67,000 collections, with close to 7,000 fully digitized and available online, according to Monica Mohindra, senior program officer for the project.
“We’re hoping to encourage and inspire citizens across the country to interview the veterans in their lives,” Mohindra said in a phone interview. “Rather than putting the burden on the veterans themselves to tell their stories, we’re asking the country to interview the veterans. Honor them by interviewing them and collecting their stories.”
The project works with congressional offices, educational institutions and various organizations across the country, including the library in Madison, N.H., the Manchester VA Medical Center, the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton and the University of New Hampshire Center for the Humanities.
In coordination with the Veterans Home, one of Shaheen’s staff members interviewed three New Hampshire veterans and videotaped their stories for the project’s archives.
So far, the project has preserved 145 New Hampshire veterans’ stories. However, collecting stories from New Hampshire veterans doesn’t seem to be that easy.
“So far it’s been hard to drum up interests among veterans and among people to collect stories,” said Mary Cronin, director of the Madison Library, which has participated in the project for about a year but has not had any veterans share their stories.
Cronin said the library is trying to do more networking and get the word out to the community. She even put the information on Twitter this week, hoping to collect more stories, she said.
“Some veterans are reluctant to talk about those war experiences because they’re traumatic. That’s a hurdle for them.” Debra Krinsky of the VA Medical Center said. “We have to let the veterans come to us and want to share their experience.”
The center has participated in the project for about five years and has about 40 veterans’ collections, said Krinsky, the center’s acting public affairs officer.
The New Hampshire Veterans Home joined the project four years ago and has about 15 collections, including the three recently recorded in cooperation with Shaheen’s office, according to Jackie Bonafide at the Veterans Home.
“If you don’t pass that [war experience] along through oral history, you’re missing a lot. It’s very important for future generations to preserve that oral history,” Bonafide said.
“It’s very significant,” Kinsky said, “and it’s very beneficial for them [veterans] to know that their contributions and their sacrifices have been recorded and documented and will be saved for future generations.”
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