2. Oral History Project

The Oral History Project of the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive

In 1999 The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive initiated the Oral History Project (OHP). The history of the wars in Southeast Asia is not complete without the inclusion of the voices of those who were in some way involved. To that end, the mission of the OHP is to create and preserve a more complete record of the wars in Southeast Asia by preserving, through recorded interviews, the recollections and experiences of all who were involved in those wars. There is no political agenda in the development of the archive or the Oral History Project. Anyone can participate, whether an American veteran, a former ally or enemy of the U.S., an anti-war protester, a government employee, a family member of a veteran, etc. The more breadth and depth the OHP has in its participants, the better and more authentic the collection and preservation of the history of the wars will be.

For information on how to participate in the Oral History Project, see the How to Participate section of this site. If you are interested in learning how to interview veterans, please view our Online Oral History Workshop. To listen to available interviews or read transcripts online, see below or search the Virtual Vietnam Archive.

Oral History Project Interviews

The links below provide access to the interview audio, transcripts, and brief abstracts. Interviews online are in a streaming mp3 format and require a installed media player. Transcripts are in a PDF format and require a PDF viewer in order to be accessed.

Each interview will be transcribed verbatim, and transcripts for each interview will be available online as soon as the transcription and review processes are complete.

Browsing the Interviews

Researchers can now browse the Oral History Collection. Interviews are listed alphabetically by last name of the interviewee and include links to the audio and transcript (when available) of the interview. Many also include abstracts. Content of transcripts can be searched using your PDF reader's built-in Find feature. A separate page is also available to view newly added or completed interviews.

Researchers interested in searching for subjects across the oral history collection should use the Virtual Vietnam Archive search page.

  1. From the Virtual Archive Entry Page, click "Search the Virtual Vietnam Archive" in the left column.
  2. Click "Advanced Search" in the left column.
  3. In the right column under the "Narrow to Media Type" section, select "Oral History".
  4. Enter your search terms in the fields in the center section.
  5. Click "Start Search" in the left column.
  6. If the number of items retrieved is acceptable, click "Display Search Results". Otherwise, enter more search terms and click "Update Hits".

Other Oral History Resources

For more information on the interview process, go to the How to Participate section of this website.