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STORYTELLER Veterans Oral Histories

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My name is John Graham and I run a project called STORYTELLER: “Everyone Has A Story to Tell.” While I love to record just about anyone’s story, I have been focusing on collecting veterans’ histories for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project. I visit the vet, record their story of service, archive any photos they have, fill out the forms, pack it up and send it off to the Library of Congress. I am always looking for a veteran who wants their story to be in the national archive.
  I have been doing these histories, in this format, for over fifteen years.  I have gotten vets from both World War Two, Korea and Viet Nam wars, which is good—as these are our oldest and quickest disappearing veterans.
  I want to make that happen more often.
  I support myself as a waiter and an illustrator. The histories take time and materials. I’d even like to get on a plane once in while to reach out to vets in other parts of the country, and maybe even visit the Library of Congress. My contact there wrote me a very nice and important Letter of Recommendation. It would be nice to meet that person and thank them.
  I use a digital recorder, a camera and a laptop. So I travel lightly. The recording environment is always casual. A passerby might not even know I was recording the person sitting at the table with me. I have been known to share a beer at the local pub with a veteran for a few years before I gain their trust and finally get their story told. Other times, a family member has acted as a go-between and my time with the veteran is brief: I get to the house or town, meet the veteran, record their story, and archive any photos or maps. This takes a couple of hours. Afterwards, I take the time to finish the forms, annotate the interview and send it in the mail.
  Your donation would support my time, materials and any travel or dedicated equipment I use for the project. I estimate that it takes about $300 per interview. As I identify and get more veterans recorded, the project can only grow.
  In fact, when I think big I think of many trained oral historians working for STORYTELLER, recording as many veterans as possible. I suppose making STORYTELLER a non-profit entity is a consideration. But right now I just want to see what I can get started by reaching out to you. With your help, I can get out there and record the many veterans that want to tell their story and have it stored in the national archive. As the motto says, “Everyone Has A Story To Tell.”
  Thanks for helping. It would be a dream to build this project.
  Sincerely,
  John G.
http://www.elfornio.com/storyteller.html
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  • Anonymous
    • $100 
    • 7 yrs
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John Graham
Organizer
San Francisco, CA

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