In 2000, the Library of Congress began collecting oral histories from American war veterans. This program became the Veteran’s History Project.
Today, audio recordings, videos and original documents are stored in the Library of Congress. These resources are an invaluable memory for researchers and future generations.
The Project collects first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from the following wars:
World War II (1939-1946)
Korean War (1950-1955)
Vietnam War (1961-1975)
Persian Gulf War (1990-1995)
Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present)
In addition, those U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also invited to share their valuable stories. More than 200,000 war veterans live in the state but very few of these memories have been submitted to the Library of Congress.
Author, writer, photographer and documentarian Eric Douglas has begun a project to capture these oral histories from West Virginia war veterans. West Virginia oral histories will be submitted to the Library of Congress, but copies will also be kept here in a state archive. Douglas also plans to create a documentary project of West Virginians at war, tentatively titled Voices of War.