Press contacts: Tom Wiener (202) 707-0977, twie@loc.gov
Jeffrey Lofton (202) 707-6432, jlof@loc.gov
Public contact: Veterans History Project (202) 707-4916, vohp@loc.gov
VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT CELEBRATES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
WITH SPECIAL WEB FEATURE
The Veterans History Project, a program of the Library of Congress
American Folklife Center, will celebrate Women’s History
Month on March 1, 2007, with “Women at War,” an addition
of 12 fully digitized collections to the “Experiencing
War” Web series. Learn more at www.loc.gov/warstories.
“Women at War” covers four wars, beginning with
World War II, the first conflict in which American women appeared
in uniform in all branches of the armed forces. The collection
of stories includes nurses like Frances Liberty, who served in
World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and Jeanne Urbin Markle, who
served with her husband in Vietnam. Other stories feature civilian
codebreakers, a flight surgeon, and two history makers.
“We’re humbled by the significant contributions
these valiant women have made to our military history, and we
are offer these stories as a way of encouraging more women to
come forward with their own experiences,” states Bob Patrick,
director of the Project. “We have over 45,000 collections
in the Veterans History Project, but only 3,000 of them are women.
We’d like to push that percentage up.” “Women
at War” features two officers who were legitimate trailblazers:
Jeanne Holm, who in 1971 became the first woman general in the
U.S. Air Force, and Darlene Iskra, who in 1990 became the first
woman in command of a ship in the history of the U.S. Navy.
This is the twelfth set of individual stories—comprising
interviews, letters, photographs and written memoirs—to
be featured on the Veterans History Project site. Past themes
include D-Day, prisoners of war, military medicine, spies, and
African Americans. Companion sites to the project’s two
books, Forever a Soldier and Voices of War, can be viewed on
the “Experiencing War” site.
To date, more than 45,000 individuals have submitted stories
to the Veterans History Project, and 3,900 of those stories can
be accessed online [www.loc.gov/vets], many of which include
audio and video interviews, photographs, diaries, letters and
other materials, consisting of more than 150,000 online items.
These materials are part of the continuing effort by the Library
to make its collections accessible online.
Veterans from World War I through current conflicts, and the
civilians who supported them, are coming forward to record their
personal stories and contribute personal documents for a growing
archives in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
The goal is to collect, preserve and share with future generations
the stories of all American war veterans.
Become involved in the Veterans History Project. Request a project
how-to kit via email at vohp@loc.gov, download a kit from the
Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/vets, or call
the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.
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