The Veterans History Project (VHP), a special initiative of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, was established by Congress in 2000. Its mission is to collect, preserve and share the personal stories of U.S. military veterans from World War I through current conflicts and peacekeeping missions.
As of May 2025, VHP has amassed over 121,000 individual collections, encompassing audio and video interviews, original photographs, letters, diaries, memoirs, 2-D artwork and other materials. These materials offer invaluable insights into the human experiences of service members across various conflicts. The materials collected by the Veterans History Project come from many sources, including the veterans themselves and their families. Most of the interviews are conducted by volunteers who donate their time to record the veterans’ oral histories.