The Veterans History Project is a project created by the Library of Congress to document interviews of American veterans. The VHP seeks to record interviews of veterans telling their personal firsthand accounts and experiences in the United States military. The VHP will collect, preserve and make accessible these personal accounts of American wartime veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war and military service. To qualify for the project you must be a former military veteran who had served in any capacity in the United States military, or a civilian who served in support of a United States war effort in a professional capacity. The Illinois Veterans History Project was created by the Illinois State Library to do the same thing, but on a state level.
The Sparta Public Library will schedule a recorded interview with you that will last at least 30 minutes. Interviews will be conducted at the Sparta Public Library, in our meeting or genealogy rooms. The interviews will be recorded live, and an interviewer will ask you questions to help guide the conversation during the interview. The questions will cover a wide range of topics, including service memories, before and after service stories, basic training, and much more. The questions for the interview can be tailored for you, and if there is something you are uncomfortable with sharing or being asked we can exclude that from the interview.
Prior to the interview there will be a few forms you will have to fill out, these include interview release forms, and biographical information about yourself. The biographical data form includes information about your service, be sure to fill this form out entirely! We ask that as much as possible these forms be completed before arriving for the interview, but if you need help filling them out or have any questions about them feel free to ask, we would be happy to assist you. After the interview has been recorded, we will stick it on a flash drive or CD and send it to the Library of Congress and the Illinois State Library. Additionally, we will keep a copy of your interview for here at the library. This will be kept as part of our special collection.
For more information call, email or visit us at the Sparta Public Library:
211 W Broadway, Sparta IL 62286.
(618) 443-5014
spartaillinoislibrary@gmail.com
You might also like to check out the following sites:
https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/public/veteransproject.html
