Thursday, July 24, 2008

Veterans History Project

This morning, Jillian Gould (Memorial University Folklore Dept's public sector folklorist) and I had an informative telephone chat with Dr. Timothy Lloyd, Executive Director of the American Folklore Society. We had questions for Tim about the training available for people interested in collecting stories, oral history, and personal experience narratives as part of the Veterans History Project in the United States.

The Veterans History Project relies on volunteers to collect and preserve stories of wartime service. The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000, with a primary focus on collecting first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from World War I up to the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

For me, one of the interesting programs they deliver is a short, half-day introductory course on interviewing techniques for community groups, seniors' homes, high- and middle-schools who are planning on doing recording projects with veterans in their own communities.

The Veterans History Project also makes good use of online resources, including a Veterans History Project Field Kit which can be downloaded from the Library of Congress website. The kit includes items like data and release forms, and audio, video and recording logs.

The website also offers good introductory level information for groups (and individuals) on preparing for and conducting interviews.

No comments: