Jeft Lotfon welcomes WEL, World Elder Land to the Library of Congress, Veteran History Project.
Voices of War - Stories of Service From the Home Front and The Front Lines, The Library of Congress. Every soldier has a story to tell, and since the year 2000 the Veteran's History Project, a new permanent department of the Library of Congress, has been carefully collecting and preserving the memories of the veterans of all wars. The collection is astonishing in its scope. In addition to more than 50,000 recorded oral histories, the VHP has amassed thousands of letters, photographs, scrapbooks, and invaluable mementos from nearly a century of warfare.
Jeff Lofton at the entrance of the Veteran's History Project, a new department of the Library of Congress, inviting Kathy and Easy from WEL, World Elder Land to the Data Processing Center.
Data Processing Center stations and how narrations and oral histories, from our veterans, are processed.
One of the staff members at the data center explains how the envelopes with the information from each veteran is received and entered in the computer.
Data Center 02
Data Center 3
Data Center 4
Data Center 8 - Some veterans send videos
Data Center 7
Data Center - processing center.
Data Center 9 - Documents of one of the veterans, their honorable discharge and special commendations.
Data Center - Tapes and Video Tapes waiting patiently for more volunteers to help with the transcription and process.
Actually the Library of Congress has collected more than 35.000 stories of elders veterans, now available for research. In the Data Center packages like these ones arrived almost daily. Every envelope is a treasure of history and life.
Data Center 12A - A WW II - beautiful scrap book, love letters, newspaper articles, medals, photos and much more of the service and life of one of our elders, hoping for a more peaceful world for everyone.
Data Center - 12B
... and more shopping bags with envelopes of amazing stories were hand delivered from a nursing home from out of town.
Processing Center - This is how the incoming mail is opened and then file on separate boxes to protect each individual story until the staff or volunteers work on it.
Data Center 3 - Photos, biographical information, stories of friends that were left behid, heroic contributions, many acts of kindness and also inexplicable situations of terror and harm.
Data Center 13 - More vivid descriptions and extraordinary memoirs narrated by our elders.
Jeff gave WEL access to the archive's room where all the 35.000 stories of our elder veterans are now part of the Library.
Each document has been carefully process, copied or in some cases like this one, two officers, veterans and sweethearts, got married while in service oversease and their wedding photo in unifor has been reestored for the completion of their beautiful file.
Jeff Lofton at his desk. What a blessing for our elders veterans this group of young professionals dedicated to the administration of this remarkable project. Bravo!!! We are so proud of your contributions too.
Vicky and Jeff welcoming Kathy and Easy from WEL, World Elder Land at the Library of Congress.
Jeff Lofton and Kathy Ward got together last September 2004 and brainstormed about better ways to design a Retirement Community Outreach Program to collect stories from our veterans, and more suitable ways for Activity Directors, Therapeutic Recreation Directors, staff, volunteers and all other community members in institutional settings to get involved and facilitate the data collection and mailing. WEL, World Elder Land wants to continue helping as much as possible connecting the staff members insterested in this project.
The Veterans History Project is another invaluable way to thank and recognize our elders for their contributions.