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**THIS VERSION PROVIDED FOR SEARCHING/INDEXING ONLY**
A more fully navigable version is available at
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                       Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

            A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress

                       Prepared by Michael McElderry
                 Revised and expanded by Michael McElderry

                                    1999

                 Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

                              Washington, D.C.

       Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

                Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
                         Manuscript Division, 2003

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Collection Summary

Title:    Records of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund , 1965 - 1994 (bulk
1978 - 1985 )
ID No.:    MSS61695
Creator: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Extent:    43,700 items ; 132 containers plus 1 oversize ; 53 linear feet
Repository:    Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Abstract:    Organization founded for the purpose of erecting a national
memorial honoring American veterans of the Vietnam conflict. Administrative
files document the operations and technical resources required for the
erection of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as well as the surrounding
political controversy.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of
person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and
listed alphabetically therein.

Names:

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Carhart, Tom
Century, Larry
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Copulos, Milton R.
Doubek, Robert W.
Hart, Frederick, 1943-
Lin, Maya Ying
Perot, H. Ross, 1930-
Scruggs, Jan C.
Sherwood, Carlton
Webb, James H.
Binswanger Glasscraft Products
Cooper-Lecky Partnership
Gilbane Building Company

Subjects:

Memorial Day
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Monuments
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Psychological aspects
War memorials--Washington (D.C.)

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The records of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund were donated to the
Library of Congress in several installments, the first in 1984 upon
completion of the memorial. Additional gifts followed, 1985-1999.

Transfers:

Photographs, photographic slides, posters, blueprints, and drawings have
been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division; videotapes,
audiotapes, and phonograph records have been transferred to the Motion
Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of
Congress. These transfers are identified as part of the fund's records. A
scale model of the memorial has been transferred to the National Park
Service, the government agency responsible for the administration of the
memorial, along with a large poster and banner associated with the National
Salute to Vietnam Veterans.

Copyright Status:

Copyright in the unpublished writings of members of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund in these papers and in other collections of papers in the
custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: Container number, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund span the years 1965-1994,
with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period between 1978 and
1985. The records document the administrative and operational history of
the fund, a nonprofit, charitable organization founded for the purpose of
erecting a national memorial honoring American veterans of the Vietnamese
Conflict. The fund's files detail all phases of the activities associated
with this undertaking, including the design, construction, financing, and
promotion of the memorial. The main body of the fund's records is arranged
in two series identified as Office Files and Project Director's Files,
while documentation of the organization's fund-raising activities is
grouped under a separate series. Material relating to the National Salute
to Vietnam Veterans (10-14 November 1982), a five-day tribute to Vietnam
veterans consisting of commemorative events and the dedication of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is also organized within its own series.
Although the original organization of the files maintained by the fund has
largely been preserved, some rearrangement was undertaken to achieve
consistency and clarity.

Incorporated on 27 April 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund completed
its mission in the fall of 1984 with the addition of Frederick Hart's
life-size sculpture to the entry plaza of the memorial grounds. Although
the vision and determination of a small group of individuals led by Jan C.
Scruggs, president of the fund, culminated in a public memorial honoring
Americans who served in Vietnam, construction of the memorial had proved
divisive, mirroring the political passions and controversies concerning the
war. Both the Office Files and Project Director's Files provide the
researcher with documentation of the administrative operations and
technical resources which affected the building of the memorial as well as
of the political controversy which surrounded its construction.

The Office Files contain general administrative records of the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund arranged under the following headings:
administration, expenses and contracts, fiscal, general subject file,
memorial design, project construction, and public relations. The files
include architectural drawings, business and financial records, and
construction reports. The fund solicited designs for the memorial in open
competition and received 1,421 entries in reply. On 1 May 1981, an
eight-member jury announced the selection of the design submitted by Maya
Ying Lin. The memorial design files contain material relating to the design
competition and to Lin's selection, as well as to hearings before the
Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission,
agencies whose approval of the design was necessary before construction
could begin. Records concerning Frederick Hart's sculpture are filed under
the same heading.

The chevron-shaped, black granite memorial represented a negative symbol to
many and was characterized by Tom Carhart, a prominent critic, as "a black
gash of shame and sorrow." Material documenting Carhart's criticism and
that of others concerned with the controversial design, including Milton R.
Copulos, H. Ross Perot, Carlton Sherwood, and James H. Webb, is contained
under the memorial design heading within the Office Files. Other records
concerning Sherwood, an investigative reporter whose series, "Vietnam
Memorial: A Broken Promise," was televised on the local news broadcasts of
WDVM-TV, Washington, D.C., 7-10 November 1983, are in the public relations
files.

In 1981, the fund engaged the Cooper-Lecky Partnership, an architectural
firm, to assist Maya Ying Lin in developing her design and Gilbane Building
Company to manage its construction. Files located under expenses and
contracts relate to these and other companies employed by the fund to build
the memorial.

Verifying and inscribing the names of the war dead on the memorial's panels
posed major administrative and technical problems. Binswanger Glasscraft
Products was awarded the contract for inscribing the names and, with the
aid of a new stenciling technique designed by independent inventor Larry
Century, completed the inscriptions in three months. The Office Files
series contains material relating to names and inscriptions in the project
construction files, which also include a complete set of blueprints for the
memorial and its surrounding area.

As project director, Robert W. Doubek, a cofounder of the fund, was also
directly responsible for the design and construction of the memorial. As a
result, while the Office Files are more comprehensive in scope, the records
in the Files of the Project Director series more fully reflect the
administrative and technical aspects of Doubek's dual responsibilities.
Since the Office Files and Project Director's Files contain similar types
of records, both series should be consulted to insure complete coverage of
a particular topic.

The Addition series contains material arranged subsequent to the initial
organization of the Fund's records. Items in the series document activities
surrounding the tenth anniversary celebration of the memorial in 1992 and
Memorial Day ceremonies held at the memorial in 1993. The series also
contains printouts and registration labels of entrants in the memorial
design competition, as well as working copies of printouts listing the
veterans whose names were inscribed on the memorial.

In order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the construction of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the fund sponsored a year-long program of
special events culminating on Veterans Day, 11 November 1992. As part of
this program, the fund presented a series of educational seminars on
various topics analyzing the effects of the Vietnam War on America. The
Addition contains transcripts from most of these seminars as well as from
the Veterans Day commemoration ceremony held at the memorial wall. The
Addition also includes informational pamphlets and printed items promoting
the anniversary events. Correspondence and miscellaneous items relating to
the participation of President Bill Clinton in the Memorial Day ceremony of
1993 consists chiefly of letters from veterans reacting to the president's
presence at the event.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in eight series:

   * Office Files, 1979-1985, n.d.
   * Files of the Project Director, 1965-1984, n.d.
   * National Salute to Vietnam Veterans, 1979-1983, n.d.
   * Fund-raising, 1979-1984, n.d.
   * Miscellany, 1966-1985, n.d.
   * Card Files, ca. 1980-ca. 1984
   * Addition, 1980-1994, n.d.
   * Oversize, 1980-1982

 November 7, 2003