UNIVERSITY PARK — The College of Communications and University Libraries at Penn State have teamed up to record and preserve accounts of any living U.S. military war veterans for the Veterans History Project.
Coordinators of the project are seeking veterans to participate in interviews that would take place during the weeks of April 21 and April 28 on the University Park campus. The interviews would be conducted by students in COMM 283W Television Studio Production, led by senior lecturer Maria Cabrera-Baukus.
Any war veteran is eligible to participate in the interviews. Before the interview, the students in charge of the interview will contact the veteran to ask some preliminary questions about their service. During the interview, veterans will be taped and asked about their service.
Baukus, who has collected more than 100 interviews for the project since 2003, said veterans may bring any memorabilia they might have related to their service to the interview. Memorabilia could include but is not limited to articles, letters, medals, pictures and/or uniforms. These items will be videotaped and included in the finished oral history video. Veterans who participate in the interviews will get a DVD copy of their interviews.
Veterans interested in having their oral histories recorded may contact Cabrera-Baukus by email at mcb7@psu.edu or by mail at 103 Innovation Blvd., Suite 205, University Park, PA 16802. They also may call and leave a message at 814-865-3068. Interviews need to be confirmed by mid-March.
The Veterans History Project, which focuses on collecting accounts from war veterans, was created by Congress in 2000. The purpose of the Veterans History Project is to preserve and make accessible personal accounts from U.S. military veterans, so that future generations may better understand realities of war. The wars included in the project are: World War I (1914-1920), World War II (1939-1946), the Korean War (1950-1955), the Vietnam War (1961-1975), the Persian Gulf War (1990-1995), and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present).
Interviews conducted by Cabrera-Baukus and her students have been archived at the Library of Congress, the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg, Pa., and in the Special Collections Library at Pattee Library on campus.