Oral History Project
The Bong Center is dedicated to gathering, preserving and sharing the personal recollections of those men and women who have served their country in the armed forces. The recorded interview is added to the museum’s library for the sake of current and future generations of students and scholars. Please fill out and return our pre-interview questionnaire if you would like to contribute your own story to our archive.
FAQ
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Oral history is a sound recording of historical information, obtained through an interview that preserves a person’s life history or eyewitness account of a past experience
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The Center wants to interview veterans from all branches of service from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Afghanistan, and other American military campaigns. We actively seek stories of everyday life in the military. Every soldier played a role during their military service and every veteran has a unique story to share.
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Interviews take place in a private setting at the Bong Veterans Center. Arrangements may also be made to conduct the interview at your home or via Zoom.
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Our interviewers are trained staff and volunteers, many of whom are also veterans.
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Our oral history collection consists of almost 700 recorded interviews. They are used in exhibits, for research purposes, and preserved for future generations of students and scholars.
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128 of our oral histories are available in their entirety via the Recollection WI “Listening to War” project. Explore veterans’ stories from WWII through the Afghanistan War.
The rest of the collection is available in the museum’s research center. Please contact our curator at fiandt@bongcenter.org to make an appointment.
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Yes. As long they are accompanied by legal paperwork, we welcome these histories into our collection.
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Fill out the pre-interview questionnaire and return it to the museum. We will contact you to set up a time and place for the interview.
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We are looking for people to help process completed interviews. This includes transcription, indexing, and cataloging. If you’re interested, please contact Briana Fiandt.
