Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project is an initiative of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress that was established by the United States Congress through the Veterans’ Oral History Project Act (Public Law No: 106-380) in 2000. Local efforts to interview and record veteran oral histories were taken up by volunteers such as the donor of this collection, William “Bill” Vollano, and Eastern Michigan University Professor of History, Dr. JoEllen Vinyard. Using the guidelines provided by the Library of Congress, volunteers conducted and recorded interviews with 142 veterans across Washtenaw County between 2004 and 2015. These oral histories document the stories of veterans who served in a wide range of significant conflicts from World War II and beyond, as well as some of the women who worked at the Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti.
Oral histories collected by EMU Historic Preservation graduate students on December 9th, 2022 are currently being processed for publication.
For more information on the Veterans History Project, check out the official website at the Library of Congress.
Homefront Histories
Second World War: Pacific Theater
Second World War: European Theater
Vietnam War
Korean War
Cold War
Rights and Access Statements
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The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs. Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.
As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.