Half-way through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) funded project to digitize the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) Application Files of the FVPPA/VAHF collection, two major milestones have been reached – over 10,000 ODP files are now available online, totaling more that 200,000 pages.  Although the pace has slowed down this summer with many of the students involved in the project taking summer vacations, the project is still well ahead of schedule, with over 90 of the 124 boxes of ODP files completely digitized.

This three year project is projected to make available online over 250,000 pages of materials documenting the immigration experience of Vietnamese to the United States following the end of the war in Vietnam.   All of these files are accessible through the Virtual Vietnam Archive, and you can keep up with the project on our ODP Digitization Project Page.

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

Undated, Michael G. Kelly Collection

The Vietnam Center and Archive’s 2013 Conference, Vietnam: 1963, will be held at the National Archives in Washington, DC on Sept. 26-28th, 2013.  The conference is free and open to the public.  Seating in the McGowan Theatre is limited, and due to the high level of interest in this conference, the VNCA is opening online pre-registration.  Pre-registration will guarantee you a seat in the theatre.

The conference agenda is also available online.  More information is available at www.vietnam.ttu.edu/conference.htm

Online Registration Form

Conference Agenda

Dr. Patrick Hagopian is a Senior Lecturer in History at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and is the author of The Vietnam War in American Memory: Veterans, Memorials and the Politics of Healing, an in-depth examination of the development of many of the Vietnam War memorials in the United States and the vital role the Vietnam Veteran community played in their creation. Dr. Hagopian will be donating his papers relating to the writing of this well received work to the Vietnam Center and Archive and will speak about the collection and his experiences in writing his book on US Vietnam War memorials on Thursday, July 18th at 3:00pm in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library on the TTU campus.  The talk and collection viewing 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 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.