VETERANS PRESS: Veterans History Project: Workshop kicks off program at Vet Center
The Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service.
Courtesy photo
Samuel Lionel Boylston Collection No. 1848
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers at the “Veterans History Project” workshop, Aug. 28.
The Aug. 28 “Veterans History Project” workshop was championed by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and organized by her staff led by Claudette Becker and Doug Huff. The objective was to train 25 or more new interviewers for this region. By doing so, we could gather many, many more local veteran histories.
Congresswoman McMorris-Rodgers opened the workshop with a message that acknowledged the contributions of all our veterans and the desire to gather their stories for future generations.
The meeting was presented by Travis Bickford, supervisory liaison specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. Bickford traveled from Washington, D.C., to present this workshop.
The meeting was attended by more than 30 Veteran Service Officers and volunteers from all over Eastern Washington and North Idaho. All the attendees were hoping to learn more and gain some insights on how to do successful veteran history interviews.
The workshop was a great success and will help the volunteers find and obtain valuable veterans histories. Part of the workshop helped us understand the high emotions that may develop during these interviews and gave us some insight on how to handle them.
The 3.5-hour workshop concluded with the sharing by the attendees of the reasons and motivations that inspired them to participate.
You can search the current 117,000 entries for histories of someone you might know by going to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project website at www.loc.gov/vets.
If you’ve got a veteran friend or family member you would like to be interviewed, contact Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers' office by calling 509-353-2374 or seek local resources in the North Idaho Resource Directory in this publication.
