The Vietnam Archive regretfully announces that oral historians Richard Verrone, PhD, and Laura Calkins, PhD, have both left the Vietnam Archive for other opportunities. The Vietnam Center & Archive wish them the best of luck with their new endeavors.

The Oral History Project will continue as before. The Vietnam Archive is in the process of hiring new oral historians to fill the two vacancies. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Oral History Project please don’t hesitate to contact the Vietnam Archive at 806-742-9010 or vietnamarchive@ttu.edu.

The Vietnam Archive has hired Anna Mallett to process the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association (FVPPA) Collection. Anna comes to the Archive from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, where she recently completed a Master’s Degree in History. She previously worked at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, and volunteered at the Idaho State Historical Library and Archives.

The FVPPA collection was donated to the archive in June 2005. The Archive received a $48,565 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to process the collection.

We are pleased to announce that Mr. Chuck Carlock of Ft. Worth has very generously donated four completely restored helicopters to the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech.The helicopters will arrive on campus at the Memorial Circle about 9:50 on Wednesday, 18 January. President Whitmore will then hold a press conference in Memorial Circle to accept this wonderful gift.Please join us as we welcome these new additions to our collection, and also to welcome Mr. & Mrs. Chuck Carlock and Mr. Chester Grudzinski. Chuck and Chet both are Vietnam helicopter pilots.

The Vietnam Archive has a new man at the helm, although he is hardly a new face on the scene. Steve Maxner has been named Associate Director (Archives), replacing Ron Frankum, who has moved on to a new teaching opportunity.Maxner joined the Vietnam Archive in 1998 as a research assistant. In 1999 he became the Archive’s first oral historian and played a key role in the development of the Archive’s Oral History Project. “Steve was well-trained under Ron,” said Jim Reckner, director of the Center. “I know he will do an outstanding job in that lead position. Ron’s departure is a great loss, but his move is a new opportunity for pursuing his career objectives.”Maxner is working on his dissertation for a doctorate in history at Texas Tech. He received BA and MA degrees in American history at the University of North Carolina and UNC-Wilmington in 1990 and 1995, respectively. Frankum had been at the Archive for nearly five years. His new horizon is a tenure track teaching position at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Richard Verrone was promoted to direct the Oral History Project when Steve Maxner was named to the Associate Director (Archives) position. Richard will pick up where Steve left off and continue to grow the project that Steve has built over the past three years.

The Veterans History Project was created by the U.S. Congress and signed into law on October 27, 2000. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is developing a program to collect and preserve audio and video recorded oral histories from America’s war veterans, along with documentary materials such as letters, diaries, photographs, and films. The American Folklife Center also will develop online presentations of the collection as part of the Library’s National Digital Library, to make this valuable resource accessible to the American people. In July, 2001, the director of the Veterans History Project approached the Vietnam Archive Oral History Project in order to establish an official partnership between the two institutions. We accepted and will continue our work in addition to assisting with the Library of Congress Project to record and preserve the experiences of American veterans.