The Library of Congress's Veterans History Project and "Radical Trust"
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2010 Lest We Forget: The Library of Congress's Veterans History Project and "Radical Trust" Christopher Michael Jannings Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Military History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Jannings, Christopher Michael, "Lest We Forget: The Library of Congress's Veterans History Project and "Radical Trust"" (2010). Dissertations. 573. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/573 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LEST WE FORGET: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS'S VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT AND "RADICAL TRUST" by Christopher Michael Jannings A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History Advisor: Kristin M. Szylvian, Ph.D. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 2010 LEST WE FORGET: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS'S VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT AND "RADICAL TRUST" Christopher Michael Jannings, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2010 This dissertation examines the Veterans History Project (VHP), an official U.S. government project created under a bill signed into law by President William J. Clinton on October 27, 2000 to document the experiences of American veterans and their supporters in time of war. It explores the intersections between, cultural, social, public, and military history and addresses the following questions: Who created the VHP, what were the motivations, and what resources did Congress allocate the Library of Congress, the federal agency selected to fulfill the mandate? Who was charged with implementing the VHP, why, and what resources did they employ? In terms of the collection, what are the results? Primary sources used to reconstruct this history include oral history interviews, congressional reports, and veteran testimonies housed in its on-line archival and digital collection. This study asserts that the VHP model was adopted based on the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center antecedents (previous oral history projects) that began with the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writer's Project (FWP) a lasted when the democratization of U.S. history and a shift in professional research practices, ethics, and goals led to "radical trust," a decline in expert and curatorial authority towards a more egalitarian approach, where everyone regardless of professional status shares authority. This participatory approach adopted for the VHP differs from an earlier LOC approach utilized in the WPA and 1970s projects. It is now witnessed in how the VHP grants untrained, amateur historians the authority to contribute on equal basis with trained scholars. It has largely kept with the "spirit of legislation," inspiring numerous national partner groups, historians, educators, students, and veterans to participate. However, the VHP is politically charged and represents more of a celebratory endeavor than a serious professional scholarly effort to document veteran's experiences. It suggests that Congress is not concerned about creating an accurate/complete historical record of wartime experiences. Therefore, the concept of "radical trust" is limited and the VHP will continue to collect materials in vast numbers and remain wildly uneven in quality of interview and coverage of diverse veteran groups across gender, race, and ethnic lines. In memory of Theodore "Ted" Blahnik, USN UMI Number: 3440811 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI' Dissertation Publishing UMI 3440811 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Christopher Michael Jannings 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While endeavoring to research and write this dissertation, I am acknowledgeable of the work conducted by a legion of past and present military, and war and memory historians across many interdisciplinary lines. I am forever indebted to the late Theodore "Ted" Blahnik, U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, educator, and Athletic Director at Coloma High School, Michigan for teaching me the value of oral history. For any graduate student the term mentor should hold a special place. In my case, there are two, Western Michigan University professors, Kristin Szylvian and Michael Chiarappa. I say this not only for their many years of guidance and support, but also for encouraging me to undertake this project. For dissertation committee members, Edwin Martini III and Nicolas Witschi of WMU, and James Smither of Grand Valley State University, I am eternally grateful for their time and support, and for insightful comments offered in private conversations and during research and writing phases. Research required time and money. Marion "Buddy' Gray, WMU history department chair, and former Director of Graduate studies, Catherine Julien, for renewing my annual stipend and sponsoring a much needed travel grant. Because of them I was able to finish the project in a timely fashion (before I became a permanent fixture in the department). I would also like to thank Katherine Ellison for her assistance with any number of formatting issues during the final editing stage. History ii Acknowledgements—continued department secretaries, Brenda Brewer and Candace List were always on hand to field an array of questions of the administrative type. I offer my sincere best wishes to all in their future endeavors. Generous professional people at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center in Washington, D.C sat through oral history interviews. These people include AFC director, Margaret "Peggy" Bulger, Michael Taft, David Taylor, and Ann Hoog. Within the VHP, Robert "Bob" Patrick, Peter Bartis, Sarah Rouse, Tom Weiner and Alexa Potter, Rachel Mears, Monica Mohlinda, and others who willingly shared their personal experiences, views, sources, and statistics. I owe much to my family as well. My late father, Kenneth E. "Duke" Jannings, taken from me far too early in life, inspired me to never give up hope to succeed. Along with my mother, Maria A. Jannings-Sluiter, they worked hard under trying circumstances to provide me a foundation for which to live, work, and excel. My beloved wife, Katie, mother-in-law, Frances B. Piggott, and daughters Sarah and Anna, were with me in mind the whole way, as were my late grandparents Robert and Myrtle Jannings and Joseph and Flora Leto. In presenting this dissertation, it is my fervent hope that I have honored all of you. Christopher Michael Jannings iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Lawful Beginnings: An Act of Congress 8 The Context for the Study of Social and Cultural History 20 The Context of Military History 26 Military Narratives 30 Sources 35 Autobiography, Autobiographical Essays, and Memoirs 41 Semi-Autobiographical War Novels 49 Diurnal Forms 55 Visual Forms/On-Line Postings 58 II. HANDLING, SAFEGUARDING, AND PRESERVING: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER 64 It's More Than a Library 65 The Billington Legacy 76 The AFC: A National Project with Many Workers 80 iv Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER III. TOWARDS REALIZATION: VHP STAFF, FIVE-STAR COUNCIL, AND PROJECT AWARENESS EVENTS, 2000-2008 106 Five-Star Council 123 National and Public Awareness Programs 129 Reunions, Holidays, and other World War II Celebrations 135 Media 140 IV. TO STRENGTHEN, PROMOTE, AND ENRICH: THE ROLE OF NATIONAL PROJECT PARTNERS 148 The Official Website 151 How to Participate: Educational Tutorials 152 What to Ask: The Interview 157 Memoir Kit 159 Start Writing 161 Especially for Educators and Students 163 Event Planning and Publicity Toolkit for Partner Organizations 165 Official Project Partners 170 American Association of Retired Peoples 174 Veterans Affairs 178 Disabled American Veterans 180 Veterans of Foreign Wars 182 Other National Project Partners 185 State Oral History Projects 189 v Table of Contents—continued Community Projects 198 CHAPTER V. "HUMBLE BOXES FILLED WITH TREASURES": THE VHP ARCHIVAL COLLECTION 205 Toward Gender, Race, and Ethnic Diversity 216 Women at War 217 African Americans 224 Latino Americans 227 Asian Americans 232 Native Americans 235 Implications/Suggestions for Project Diversity 240 The Census Bureau 241 VI. TOWARDS DIVERSITY: DIGITAL COLLECTIONS AND WEBSITE PRESENTATIONS 251 Creating a Digital Collection 256 Staff Favorites 257 Web Presentations/War Themes 263 Gender, Race, and Ethnicity 267 African Americans at War: Fighting Two Battles 275 Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke 282 Hispanics in Service 286 VII. CONCLUSION 303 VI Table of Contents—continued APPENDICES A. VHP Collection Numbers by State of Residence 319 B. VHP Service Statistics by Gender 322 C. Male Service Statistics 328 BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 vn LIST OF TABLES 1. U.S. States/Counts 190 2. Search Options by Race and Ethnic Group 212 3. Collection Search by U.S. State 213 4. Collection Numbers by Individual War or Conflict 214 5. Collection Numbers by Branch of Service 215 6. Women Veterans by War/Conflict 220 7. Collection Numbers by War and Gender 223 8. African American Veterans by War/VHP Collections 226 9. Latino American Veterans by War/VHP Collections , 231 10. Asian American Veterans by War/VHP Collections 233 11. American Indian Veterans by War/VHP Collections 236 12. VHP Collections by Race and Ethnic Group 239 13. U.S.