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What is the project's purpose? The North Dakota Veterans' History Project exists to capture the stories of wartime veterans who live in or served from North Dakota. These stories will illuminate individuals' experiences, enhance the understanding of these eras, and provide bridges between generations.
Who are the project sponsors? The project is a cooperative effort, coordinated in North Dakota by the State Historical Society of North Dakota with assistance from many organizations and individuals. Approximately 1,000 persons have served the project in some volunteer capacity.
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What will happen to the interviews? The original interview tape will go to the State Historical Society of North Dakota where it will be copied and a file maintained on the interview. A copy of the tape will remain at the North Dakota Heritage Center for research use and other copies may be available for study or other educational purposes. Copies may be deposited with the Library of Congress or other research centers. As much as is possible, individual interviews may be indexed or transcribed. Any supporting material, including photographs or personal papers, will be filed as part of the collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Will the interviews be transcribed? Transcription is preferred and we hope that interviews can be transcribed. The project is seeking volunteers who will assist in transcription. However, because transcription is a slow and therefore expensive process, the project sponsors believe that what is most important right now is to record the narrators' stories. The project will gladly receive support for transcribing interviews, either as volunteer assistance or as donations.
Why a gift agreement? Oral interviews, whether transcribed or not, are protected by copyright laws. The gift agreement gives these rights to the tape repository so researchers may use the interviews and quote from them. It also permits the repository to make copies of the tapes or transcripts for researchers, family members, other repositories, or others in the future. Without the gift agreement the interview tapes will not be accepted by any historical repository. The person conducting the interview must also sign the gift agreement.
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Who will be interviewed? Veterans who are interested in participating and who have a story to tell are welcome to be a part of this project. Veterans residing in North Dakota and those who served from North Dakota (but may now reside elsewhere) are expected to be part of the project. Only a small fraction of the state's 60,000 veterans can be interviewed and the project will initially give priority to those who served in World Wars I and II and the Korean War. Veterans may volunteer to be interviewed, be nominated by veterans' organizations, or by the county veterans' service officer. The Veterans' Service Officers will assemble a list of veterans in each county who might be interviewed.
Will all veterans be interviewed? Oral histories take a lot of time to do, including time before the interview to contact people and travel, and time following to organize the information and materials gathered. Even with excellent cooperation of veterans and an outpouring of volunteer interviewers, only a fraction of the state's large number of veterans can be interviewed.
Who will do the interviews? Volunteers, who may include other veterans, students, and historians, will conduct the interviews. Interviewers are expected to have background knowledge on the era and the war the interview is about and to follow the procedures outlined for the project.
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Will you collect other materials? Photos, diaries, letters, and other unpublished materials relating to the wartime experience can be donated as part of this project as well. Any such items must be included in the gift agreement and noted on the data sheet.
Contact Information:
Veterans' History Project
State Historical Society of North Dakota
612 East Boulevard Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58505-0830
701-328-3533
E-mail: archives@nd.gov
01/25/07
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Copyright ©2003-2007 State Historical Society of North Dakota. You are free to use information from these pages for any non-commercial purpose. Any use of this information should credit the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Photographs shown on the State Historical Society of North Dakota's web site are taken from the collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota and may not be included in any publication, printed or online, without the written permission of the Society.
