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PBS AFFILIATES AND SCHOOLS ADD TO VETERANS
HISTORY
PROJECT -- Collecting World War II stories is
increasingly
urgent as more than 1,000 of the war's veterans
die every day.
For more about the Veterans History Project, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=veterans+
history+project&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.usatoday
.com/news/nation/2007-10-02-vet
erans-history-project_N.htm
Story below:
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PBS affiliates, schools add to Veterans History
Project
By Kate Naseef
USA TODAY
A number of PBS affiliates across the USA,
inspired by the release of Ken Burns' The War, are producing
mini-documentaries about their own local war stories and encouraging
high school and college students to collect oral histories.
The materials they gather are being sent to the Veterans History
Project, which was launched in 2000 by the Library of Congress to
collect oral histories and original wartime diaries, letters and
photographs from U.S. veterans of all wars that are sent in by
volunteers.
Collecting World War II stories is increasingly urgent. More than 1,000
of the war's veterans die every day. In many cases, their stories die
with them, which is why it is so important to record their memories now,
says Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.
•The PBS affiliate in Norfolk, Va., WHRO, partnered with Old Dominion
University. Classes interviewed veterans and produced video vignettes
that are being aired on the station.
•WHYY in Philadelphia traveled to sites in its coverage area to
videotape interviews with veterans and others affected by the war and
worked with local newspapers to collect essays from those who could not
be interviewed on film.
•WVIA in Pittston, Pa., is sponsoring a digital archive project to
encourage high school students to make "mini-websites" about a veteran.
The station is holding a workshop with a representative from the
Veterans History Project to teach people how to conduct interviews, and
the student with the best project will win a trip to Washington, D.C.,
to tour the Library of Congress.
"This has turned into a social movement in a way," says Kit Jensen,
chief operating officer of WVIZ in Cleveland.
Patrick also says the outreach has been successful in encouraging people
to find out more about the veterans who they know. "This Thanksgiving,
this might be a topic around a lot of dinner tables," he says.
Together with Ken Burns and PBS, the project put together a field guide
on how to conduct an interview to send to the Library of Congress. The
guide includes sample questions, recommendations for background research
and tips on audio and video techniques.
The guide is available on the PBS website and was sent out to all PBS
affiliate stations and to every high school in the USA, Patrick says.
The Veterans History Project has hired more staff and set aside extra
shelf space in anticipation of an increase in submissions in the coming
months, thanks to the initiative, Patrick says.
The project gets about 200 offerings a week and now has 50,000
collections that cover World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the
Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and today's conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
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Larry Scott --
