Let me start by telling you a story. My father served over twenty years as an officer in the Air Force. After he passed away in 2011, I discovered a dusty old footlocker stored in my parent’s attic that contained a treasure trove of documents, photographs, and mementos from his time in service. My experience reflects those of many whose loved ones served in the military. Sorting through collections of personal records documenting a military life contextualizes the sacrifice and challenges these airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines encountered.

The most recent statistics indicate there are around 19 million U.S. veterans as of 2021, representing less than 10% of the adult population. According to the VA, the Gulf War-era veterans, who served between 1990 and today, account for the largest share, with approximately 7.8 million. While this figure may appear large, consider this. In 1980, about 18% of the adult population were veterans. By 2018, this decreased to 7%. This means that fewer people today are directly connected with someone who served in the military.

The only connection to veterans and their stories for many civilians will be exposure to archival and museum collections—similar to many visitors of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Those of us in the museum and archive field know it is vital to preserve these records. Many of the things veterans experience during their time in service are similar to the previous generation of veterans; however, the way modern veterans document their time in service is far more complex through the use of both analog and digital worlds. Analog records, such as physical letters, postcards, photographs, trinkets, and mementos, are concrete and relatively easy to store and bring out to share with others. Digital materials, such as emails, text messages, videos, digital photos, and social media posts, are much more abstract and challenging.

Addressing these challenges motivated me to create the Virtual Footlocker Project. While helping veterans preserve their records may eventually also help future archives and museums, this project remains focused on helping the veterans themselves and their loved ones.

Over the past three years, the VFP team conducted surveys and in-depth focus groups with hundreds of military personnel and veterans. The information gathered helped us better understand the types of records veterans create, the things they collect, the issues they run into keeping them, and their concerns for future preservation. We designed the curriculum you are starting with all of this in mind to provide you with the tools and training to work with veterans and utilize the VFP curriculum for veterans.

Overall, the curriculum is divided into four modules (or lessons). Each module should take about an hour and a half to complete. We begin with an introduction to personal military records by discussing why they are important and the challenges associated with them. The second module focuses on how to work with active-duty military and veterans. In the third module, we will introduce the VFP military curriculum and outreach strategies for its use. In the final module, we will explore how to create and implement veteran outreach projects.

Now don’t worry; you will not need to just listen to me ramble on for hours on end, as this is not just a series of videos. The curriculum is designed to be completed at your own pace and on your own time, with activities such as opportunities to test your understanding of the material at the end of each lesson.

Again, we are so happy that you are here and hope this information will help you assist veterans with the preservation of their personal military records.

-Dr. Edward Benoit, III

Get Started