Veterans History Project

Throughout history Connecticut men and women have played a pivotal role in shaping the military fortunes of our nation. Generation after generation have answered the call to service and in many cases laid down their lives in the defense of the freedoms and liberties at the heart of our great country.

The Veterans History Project (VHP) was created by Congress in 2000 to collect and preserve first-person narratives of our nation’s veterans. It began as a national grassroots oral history initiative which would allow participants to interview veterans in their lives and communities with the resulting recordings archived as part of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

VHP’s scope quickly grew to include other types of original source materials such as letters, diaries, and photographs; and in 2016 new legislation expanded the scope to include oral histories from Gold Star families—“family members of the Armed Forces who died as a result of their service during a period of war.”

Today, the VHP collects, preserves, and makes accessible recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and their families to better understand military service and sacrifice. These collections are also made available for viewing online and have been used by researchers, authors, students, teachers, and others.

If you are a Connecticut veteran or a Gold Star Family member, please consider sitting down and sharing your story. You can document your experience or the experience of your loved ones who have served through audio, visual, or text-based recording. Collections of photographs, letters, diaries, maps, and other historical documents are also accepted.

How to Participate:

• Share your story or that of a loved one in a video or audio piece at least 30-minutes in length. These can be enhanced with historical materials from your time in service.
• Volunteer to interview a veteran or Gold Star Family.
• Collect or donate a veteran’s historical documents.

My office would like to help facilitate your participation in this effort. Please feel free to contact my staff member Darien McLaren at Darien.McLaren@mail.house.gov or by phone at 203-562-3718 with questions about recording a narrative or what historical documentation the VHP will accept.