The staff of the Vietnam Center and Archive would like say Thank You to all veterans, their families, friends, and loved ones for their service.

Veterans Day Events: The Vietnam Center and Archive’s Huey and Cobra helicopters were at the Texas Tech Lone Survivor Football Game honoring Purple Heart recipients this past weekend.  Today, VNCA staff and the Huey will be at the International Cultural Center on the TTU Campus presenting to elementary school tours about the Vietnam War, and on Friday at Waters Elementary here in Lubbock for their annual Veterans Day educational events..

The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to present Astronaut and Vietnam War Veteran Mike Mullane on Thursday, November 21st at 7:00pm in the Lanier Auditorium of the Texas Tech University School of Law.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

A 1967 graduate of West Point, Mullane was commissioned in the USAF and served as a Weapon Systems Operator aboard an RF-4C Phantom, completing 150 combat missions in Vietnam. In 1978 he was selected as a Mission Specialist for the first group of Space Shuttle Astronauts. He completed three space missions and logged 356 hours in space before retiring in 1990. Mullane has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and is the recipient of many awards, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit and the NASA Space Flight Medal.

This is the final lecture in the Vietnam Center and Archive 2013 Guest Lecture Series.  All lectures are free and open to the public.

The mission of the Vietnam Center and Archive Guest Lecture Series is to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of students, faculty, and the community at large by bringing distinguished individuals to campus for presentations on specific aspects of the Vietnam War, its lasting impact on American politics, society and culture, and on contemporary issues in Southeast Asia.

This lecture series is funded in part by a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation.  For more information on the 2013 VNCA Guest Lecture Series see http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS, or contact Mary Saffell at 806-742-9010 or mary.saffell@ttu.edu.

 

The Vietnam Center and Archive would like to invite you to join us for a reception opening the Texas Vietnam Heroes Exhibit.  This striking exhibit features 3,417 dog tags of all Texans who were killed-in-action or remain missing-in-action from the Vietnam War.  It is a personalized tribute by the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument to honor and remember every Texan who died in the Vietnam War. Two dog tags were hand-embossed with the name, rank, branch of service, date of loss and home of record of each Texan who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the American Armed Forces during Vietnam.  One of each tag is displayed in the Texas Vietnam Heroes Exhibit.  The second will be entombed in the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument in March of 2014.  The Texans who died in the Vietnam War are remembered on silver tags.  The tags of the 102 Texan military personnel who are listed as Missing In Action are black.

The reception will take place on Tuesday October 29, 2013 at 6:30 PM in the Helen DeVitt Jones Auditorium, Texas Tech University Museum. The evening will feature a short program followed by refreshments.

Please direct any questions regarding this event to the Vietnam Center at 806-742-9010.  Thank you very much and we look forward to you joining us for this important event that honors and pays tribute to all Texas Vietnam Veterans.

This October two new students joined the archive in scanning the FVPPA/VAHF Collection’s ODP Application files.

Alexia

 

A Junior majoring in Biology, a Pre-PA (Physicians Assistant), Alexia is originally from Denver, Colorado. She moved to Cypress, TX eleven years ago. She enjoys outdoor activities, especially running and camping. Alexia started working at the archive in February of 2013 as an oral history transcriptionist. Having transcribed Khuc Minh Tho’s oral history interview has given her valuable insight into and understanding of the ODP files. What she enjoys most about scanning the ODP files is the detective aspect of finding the applicants information and making it available online. Alexia finds working at the archive interesting, especially learning history through the people/participants themselves.

Ashley

Ashley is a Junior from Premont, TX, majoring in Community, Family and Addiction Studies. Inspired by “To Write Love on Her Arms,” Ashley’s goal is to have her own nonprofit organization that focuses on helping teenagers struggling with addictions, self harm, depression, and suicide by helping them get rehab and support services, as well as educating parents on how to assist their children through the process. Ashley loves to play sports, especially basketball, volley ball, and weight lifting. Ashley started working at the archive in September of 2013. What she enjoys most about working with the ODP files is reading about individual people, their stories, how much they care about their families, and how hard they tried to bring their families with them.

The Vietnam Center and Archive website has a new look.  This redesign, in addition to the new color scheme, includes a new layout for the home page and improved navigation.  The Virtual Vietnam Archive has also been updated to include:

• New color scheme
• Ability to limit by media type on the simple search page
• Filter search results by media type or by item availability
• Sort by the date the item was created, or by the date the item was added to the Virtual Vietnam Archive
• Larger preview images for photographs, slides, and artifacts
• and more…

Both the VNCA website and the Virtual Vietnam Archive are now also optimized for use on mobile devices.

Please check out the site and let us know what you think!

 

Ambassador Sichan Siv will be speaking this Thursday at 7:00pm in the International Cultural Center on the Texas Tech Campus.  Admission is free and open to the public.

The mission of the Vietnam Center and Archive Guest Lecture Series is to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of students, faculty, and the community at large by bringing distinguished individuals to campus for presentations on specific aspects of the Vietnam War, its lasting impact on American politics, society and culture, and on contemporary issues in Southeast Asia.

This lecture series is funded in part by a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation.  For more information on the 2012 VNCA Guest Lecture Series or about Rocky Bleier see http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS.

The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to present Ambassador Sichan Siv on Thursday, October 24th at 7:00pm at the International Cultural Center on the TTU Campus.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sichan Siv escaped the Cambodian killing fields in 1976, resettling in Connecticut. From 1989-1993, Siv served as a Deputy Assistant to President George H.W. Bush, and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department. In 2001, he was confirmed as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, a position he held until 2006. His is the author of two books: Golden Bones and Golden Words. A book signing will follow his lecture.

This is the fourth lecture in the Vietnam Center and Archive 2013 Guest Lecture Series.  All lectures are free and open to the public.

The mission of the Vietnam Center and Archive Guest Lecture Series is to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of students, faculty, and the community at large by bringing distinguished individuals to campus for presentations on specific aspects of the Vietnam War, its lasting impact on American politics, society and culture, and on contemporary issues in Southeast Asia.

This lecture series is funded in part by a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation.  For more information on the 2013 VNCA Guest Lecture Series see http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS, or contact Mary Saffell at 806-742-9010 or mary.saffell@ttu.edu.

As many of you may have already heard, longtime Associate Director and Archivist Mary Saffell has accepted the position of Senior Archivist/University Archivist with Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, beginning in October.  Mary joined the Vietnam Center and Archive in the spring of 2002 and has been instrumental in the growth the Archive has experienced over the last decade, as well as the development of the Virtual Vietnam Archive.

During her time with the VNCA, Mary has been a part of a significant number of wide-ranging projects.  She has received grants for and directed numerous archival projects, starting with a project to preserve the film “Dong Tam Base Camp,” part of the William Foulke Collection.  In 2005 Mary applied for a grant through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to process the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association/Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation (FVPPA/VAHF) collection.  This grant was awarded in 2006 and led to the creation of the Vietnamese American Heritage Project at the Archive, as well as an additional NHPRC grant (currently ongoing) to digitize this invaluable collection.  In 2011  Mary, along with current Assistant Archivist Amy Mondt, and the VNCA’s former Communications Coordinator Victoria Lovelady, initiated the VNCA’s Guest Lecture Series, which to date has brought 14 speakers to Lubbock and will continue this fall with two additional speakers, and four speakers planned for 2014.

These are just a few of the many things Mary has been a part of during her nearly twelve years with the Vietnam Center and Archive.  She has played a vital role with the VNCA and will be greatly missed.  We wish her the best of luck in Fort Worth!

The Vietnam Center and Archive’s 2013 Conference focusing on Vietnam in the year 1963 is currently underway.  You can watch the conference online through the US National Archive’s Ustream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

If you are in the DC area, there is still time to join us.  This free conference continues until 5pm today, and starts again on Saturday at 8:30am.  For more information on the conference and panelists, visit www.vietnam.ttu.edu/conference.htm