The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to present Dick Rutan on Thursday, September 27th at 7:00pm in the Lanier Auditorium of the Texas Tech University School of Law.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dick Rutan served in the Air Force in Vietnam, flying over 325 combat missions. Following his time in the military, Rutan continued his aviation career, earning many honors, breaking many world records, and being inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1986 he was the first person to fly nonstop around the globe without refueling. He received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal of Honor, and his plane “Voyager” now hangs in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

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 see http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS, or contact Mary Saffell at 806-742-9010 or mary.saffell@ttu.edu.

The digitization of the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) Application Files of the FVPPA/VAHF collection is proceeding at a great pace and we are well ahead of schedule.  This three year project, funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), is projected to make available online 250,000 pages of materials documenting the immigration experience of Vietnamese to the United States following the end of the war in Vietnam.  After seven months we have digitized just under 5000 files, totaling over 100,000 pages of material.  All of these files are accessible through the Virtual Vietnam Archive, and you can keep up with the project on our project page.

Thanks to everybody who came out to the Texas Tech Museum yesterday to see the Archive’s Huey and Cobra helicopters and all of the great WWII exhibits the museum has opened.

The Center and Archive also had two new exhibits open this weekend: “Vietnam: The Helicopter War”, on display until September 2nd at the Silent Wings Museum, and “The US Soldier’s Experience During the Vietnam War” at the Science Spectrum until September 2nd.

For those of you who can’t make it to see “Vietnam: The Helicopter War” at the Silent Wings, you can see it online here: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/helicopter/

Don’t forget our our reception on Monday, July 23rd at 6:00pm at the Science Spectrum celebrating the opening of our exhibits, and honoring all of our local Vietnam veterans.

Happy Independence Day from the Vietnam Center and Archive, and thank you to all of those who have worked to preserve our freedom!

The Museum of Texas Tech University Association has organized a summer-long series of collaborative exhibitions celebrating those who have protected our freedom titled “Celebrating our Heroes.” The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to participate in this series with a number of events:

July 15th – “Helicopter Display at the Museum of Texas Tech University:” The Vietnam Center and Archive’s AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter and UH-1 Huey Utility Helicopter will be on display at the TTU Museum during the Museum’s family picnic for Veterans and Families celebrating the opening of the “‘Memories of WWII’ Photographs from the Archives of the Associated Press” exhibit.  Reservations are required – 806-742-2443.

July 15th-September 2nd – “The Helicopter from WWII to the Vietnam War” at the Silent Wings Museum.  The helicopter was first utilized by the US military during WWII at Burma in 1945 when the vaunted American glider forces were unable to reach downed American bombers.  By the beginning of the Vietnam War the uses for helicopters were being greatly expanded, and the UH-1 Huey became one of the most recognized icons of the war in Vietnam.  This exhibit will examine the history and uses of the helicopter over the course of the war, and will feature both a physical exhibit on display at the Silent Wings Museum as well as an online exhibit on our website.  Visitors to the physical exhibit will have the option to use smart phones or tablets to access enhanced content such as historical film footage, audio records, oral histories, and documents.

July 15th-September 2nd – “Experiences: US Soldiers in the Vietnam War” at the Science Spectrum.  This exhibit will examine a day-in-the-life of US soldiers and support personnel in Vietnam and will feature many historical images and artifacts from the collections of the Vietnam Center and Archive.

July 23rd – “Celebrating our Heroes at the Vietnam Center and Archive” reception at 6:00pm at the Science Spectrum.  More information about this reception will be posted soon.

We hope you will be able to join us and the other participating institutions for these events over the course of the summer.  For more information on all of the Celebrating our Heroes events visit www.celebratingourheroes.com.

On this Memorial Day, the Vietnam Center and Archive remembers all of the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us and our freedom.  Thank you.

Description: The Vietnam Archive seeks an archival specialist to provide assistance with the development of the Virtual Vietnam Archive. Working with the professional staff of the Vietnam Center and Archive, the Archival Specialist will assist in hiring, training and supervision of student employees; digitize archival collections; conduct quality control checks of digital files and records. The successful candidate will work closely with Archive staff and faculty in fulfilling their mission to collect and preserve primary documentation related to all aspects of the Vietnam War Era, to include military, diplomatic, cultural, and social history.

Preferred Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree, experience using PCs, scanners, and database software, work experience in a library, archive, or museum setting, interest in and/or knowledge of American history, military history, the Vietnam War era, Southeast Asia; strong organizational skills; strong oral and written communication skills; strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to build successful working relationships with a wide variety of individuals.

Salary and Benefits: Salary range is $10.29-$14.76/hour, commensurate with education and experience. Benefits include health insurance, optional dental, life, and disability insurance; retirement plan; vacation, sick, and holiday leave; longevity pay.

Note: This is a one-year temporary position.

To Apply: Apply online at http://jobs.texastech.edu/postings/45817, requisition number 86120. TTU is an EEO/AA/ADA Employer. Special Instructions to Applicants: Please attach cover letter, resume or CV, and a list of three references with contact information when applying for this position. Review of applications will begin June 7 and continue until the position is filled.

Departmental Contact: Mary Saffell

Today is Armed Forces Day, a day to pay tribute to the men and women who serve in all branches of the United States’ armed forces.  The Vietnam Center and Archive would like to take a moment to thank all our veterans and active duty service members.

The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to be the home to collections of materials from all branches of our military.  To see a few of these items, please visit our online exhibits page, which includes the following exhibits:

US Air Force

US Army

US Coast Guard

US Marine Corps

US Navy

The Winter 2012 issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter is now available online.  This issue includes articles on our project to digitize the Orderly Departure Project Application files of the FVPPA/VAHF collection; information about the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument; a listing of the 2011 donors to the Archive; an overview of our Audio/Visual digitization efforts; information about our Techsans in the Vietnam War project, and an article about staff changes at the Archive that have occurred over the past few months.

If you would like to receive a full color printed version of this newsletter in your mailbox, please consider becoming a friend of the Vietnam Center. Membership information can be found on our Firends of the Vietnam Center webpage.

Links:

Newsletter Current Issue: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=999nl00051

Newsletters Back Issues: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/friends/newsletters.php

Membership Information: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/friends/

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), a nationally recognized time to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the United States’ history, culture, and society.  May was chosen as APAHM due to two important historical dates and events relating to the contributions of Asian and Pacific Americans to the U.S. taking place in May. First, May 7, 1843 is the date the first Japanese immigrants to the U.S. arrived. Second, May 10, 1869 is when the transcontinental railroad was completed; many Chinese immigrants labored laying the tracks.

To celebrate APAHM, we have updated our APAHM online exhibit to include new information and materials, including items from the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association collection Orderly Departure Program files that are currently being digitized.  These records, donated by the Vietnamese American Historical Foundation, document the history of many Vietnamese who immigrated to the US after the war and who eventually became US citizens.

To find out more about APAHM, view our APAHM online exhibit.