June 6, 2002
Press Contacts: Craig D'Ooge, Library of Congress (202)
707-9189
Jennifer Dart, Fleishman-Hillard (202) 828-8817 or (703) 201-3796
Public Contact: Veterans History Project (888) 371-5848
Veterans' Stories Celebrated at D-Day Anniversary Aboard U.S.S.
Intrepid
Library of Congress Calls on Americans to Collect Oral
Histories of All Veterans and Those Who Served Them Through its
Veterans History Project
New York City (June 6, 2002) -- Hundreds of New York area veterans
joined in a national call to action aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid
Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City to celebrate the Library
of Congress's Veterans History Project. The Library of Congress,
with the support of AARP, hosted this D-Day celebration to encourage
all
Americans to get involved in this historic undertaking.
Famed fighter pilot Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer, Jr. (Ret.) made remarks
at the June 6 gathering, along with Librarian of Congress James
H. Billington and AARP President James Parkel. Sam Billison, president
of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and WWII vet, also participated
in an oral history demonstration.
The Veterans History Project is a program of the Library of Congress
through its American Folklife
Center designed to encourage Americans of all ages to collect
the first-person accounts of those who served America during wartime.
The Library is collecting and preserving oral histories and documentary
materials from veterans of World War I,
World War II and the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars and
stories from the home front. Congress created the project in legislation
sponsored by Rep. Ron Kind, Rep. Amo Houghton, Rep. Steny Hoyer,
Sen. Max Cleland and Sen. Chuck Hagel. The legislation passed
unanimously and was signed into law by President Clinton on October
27, 2000. (P.L.
106-380).
"The Library of Congress is proud to serve as steward in
preserving this national memory," said Librarian of Congress
James H. Billington. "More than 1,600 veterans are dying
each day, so there is an urgent need to collect their stories
and experiences. This project will also allow the next generation
to learn about and speak to those who have fought to sustain the
freedom that we find challenged throughout the world today, as
well as those who kept the home front running during some of America's
most difficult times. The Library is honored to add these eyewitness
accounts of American history to the vast record we have preserved
for more than 200 years."
AARP, the nation's leading organization for people 50 and over,
is the project's founding private-sector sponsor. Together with
250 partner organizations that have agreed to participate in the
project, AARP will mobilize its members and vast national network
of 40,000 volunteers in the collection of stories to be told by
average Americans whose heroic
deeds and small wartime efforts preserved freedom. A newly produced
video production about the project premiered at today's event
and will be distributed to the 50 AARP state offices and partner
organizations to help educate and instruct people on how to go
about collecting these oral histories.
"In the months ahead, we plan to turn to our 35 million
members to reach out to veterans whose stories have yet to be
recorded," AARP President Jim Parkel said referring to the
organization's founding private sector sponsorship. "We are
in the process of creating a well-trained volunteer force to conduct
proper oral history interviews with their parents, friends and
even strangers. As we have done this D-Day in the great state
of New York, we will continue to work with the Veterans History
Project to develop public programs across the country that will
allow veterans and those who served them to share their personal
memories and experiences for all to hear."
The Library of Congress is the world's largest library and the
national library of the United States. The Library was founded
in 1800, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in
the nation. The mission of the Library of Congress is to make
its vast holdings available and useful to Congress and the American
people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge
and human creativity for future generations.
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress was created
in 1976 to document, preserve and present all aspects of traditional
culture and life in America. With more than two million items,
it maintains the largest repository of traditional cultural documentation
in the United States. The National Veterans History Collection
preserved at the American Folklife Center will richly complement
the Library's existing holdings on this subject of enduring importance.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for
people 50 and over. It provides information and resources; advocates
on legislative, consumer and legal issues; assists members to
serve their communities and offers a wide range of unique benefits,
special products and services for members. These benefits include
AARP Web place at
www.aarp.org, Modern Maturity and My Generation magazines and
the monthly AARP Bulletin. Active in every state, the District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP celebrates
the attitude that age is just a number and life is what you make
it.
For more information about the Veterans History Project, call
(800) 315-8300 or visit the Web site at www.loc.gov/vets.
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PR 02-vet
06/06/02
ISSN 0731-3527
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