Lugar Announces 7,000 Veteran Interviews

Thursday, November 9, 2006

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar announced today, in advance of Veterans Day, that he has collected the personal stories of 7,000 Hoosier veterans for permanent inclusion in the Veterans History Project.

“As our nation pauses for Veterans Day, I am pleased that Hoosiers have made significant progress in recording the oral histories of Hoosier veterans,” said Lugar. “These 7,000 histories will stand as a constant reminder, not only on Veterans Day, but everyday of the sacrifices made on behalf on freedom.”

Lugar has involved more than 235 partner organizations around the state to assist with veteran’s interviews. AARP Indiana plays a major role in collecting these interviews in addition to libraries, schools and civic organizations throughout the state that turn the materials over to Lugar’s office for submission to the Library of Congress.

Lugar’s office continues to accept requests from veterans for interviews by phone at 317-226-5555 or via email at vetproject@lugar.senate.gov. Interested veterans will be contacted to set up an interview appointment. Participants receive a certificate from Lugar acknowledging and thanking them for their willingness to take part in the project.

Lugar joined with the Library of Congress in February 2002 and has submitted more interviews to the collection on behalf of Indiana than any other state.

The Lugar submissions account for nearly 20 percent of the Library’s entire Veterans History Project collection. The histories will be permanently archived by the Library of Congress and, over time, be available for research and study.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, 5 million music items and 58 million manuscripts.

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