The Tulare County Library is working with the Library of Congress and the Veterans History Project to record Veteran’s history. The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project as an effort to "collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war."
We can help you tell your story by either interviewing you or recording you as you tell stories about your time in service. If you are not comfortable with being filmed we can also help you send in a memoir, diary, or journal or photographs or letters.
The Veterans History Project keeps all the originals sent to them. The Tulare County Library will also keep copies in its History Room collection located at the Visalia Branch Library. If you have any questions, please contact Faythe at 559-713-2706.
If you are interested in participating, please click here.
War Comes Home is an initiative sponsored by Cal Humanities focused on the veteran experience, aiming to increase public understanding and empathy for those who have served, as well as to spark a public conversation on how best we can support the process of reincorporating our veterans into the fabric of civilian life.
To anchor the read, on the recommendation of an advisory group of librarians, scholars, book professionals, journalists, and veterans advocates, we have selected Karl Marlantes' What It Is Like to Go to War. Marlantes is a Vietnam veteran, a Rhodes Scholar, and the author of the New York Times best-selling novel Matterhorn. His newest book has received much reader and critical acclaim since publication in 2011, and has frequently been cited by veterans as the work that best expresses their experience. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it “ought to be mandatory reading by potential infantry recruits and by residents of any nation that sends its kids—Marlantes’s word—into combat.”
The Tulare County Library will have several events in conjunction with this program. The events include collecting of oral histories from local veterans, book discussions of Marlantes’ book and a talk by the Author, an expert panel about veterans’ issues, a fun day for military personnel and veterans and their families, a film series and job searching computer classes for veterans.
To anchor the read, on the recommendation of an advisory group of librarians, scholars, book professionals, journalists, and veterans advocates, we have selected Karl Marlantes' What It Is Like to Go to War. Marlantes is a Vietnam veteran, a Rhodes Scholar, and the author of the New York Times best-selling novel Matterhorn. His newest book has received much reader and critical acclaim since publication in 2011, and has frequently been cited by veterans as the work that best expresses their experience. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it “ought to be mandatory reading by potential infantry recruits and by residents of any nation that sends its kids—Marlantes’s word—into combat.”
The Tulare County Library will have several events in conjunction with this program. The events include collecting of oral histories from local veterans, book discussions of Marlantes’ book and a talk by the Author, an expert panel about veterans’ issues, a fun day for military personnel and veterans and their families, a film series and job searching computer classes for veterans.