Sat July 12, 2025

By Press Release

Politics State

Celebrating 25 Years of the Veterans History Project

Celebrating 25 Years of the Veterans History Project
Across a century of military engagements, from World War II through the Global War on Terror, Arkansans have upheld a proud history of serving in our nation’s uniform. Some of their stories have garnered national attention and praise while others have been less heralded, but no less honorable.   The Natural State is home to over 200,000 veterans who have served during international conflicts and times of peace. These men and women have unique perspectives and experiences to offer us and future generations, but we can only benefit from hearing their stories and firsthand accounts if they are invited to share them and then they are cataloged.   Fortunately, there is an initiative dedicated to collecting and preserving these reflections that is celebrating over two decades of effort.

The Veterans History Project, a Library of Congress program, has been working to catalog
veterans’ oral histories for 25 years. Unanimously founded by Congress in 2000, the VHP has
collected over 114,000 individual stories, becoming home to one of the largest such collections in the world.
 
My office has been actively involved in promoting this worthy undertaking, as well as
interviewing Natural State veterans, for more than a decade. This passion project stems in part from my own family’s experience, having realized we didn’t learn enough about my WWII
veteran father’s time serving our country while he was still around to share.
 
This is exactly what the VHP was established to correct. And I am pleased it is doing so with the help, enthusiasm and dedication of Arkansans.
 
I’m incredibly proud our team has been able to interview and submit the stories of more than 100 Arkansan veterans as well as train over 1,200 people to compile and document these riveting, revealing recollections.
 
In celebration of the quarter-century anniversary, my office partnered with the Library of
Congress directly this year, hosting some of its staff in our state to learn about our progress and train more Arkansans to participate.

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