SPOHP Director Dr. Paul Ortiz is teaching a course this spring on oral history! This interdisciplinary seminar is an intensive introduction to the theory and practice of oral history. Students will have access to the resources of the award-winning Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. We will learn the craft of oral history interviewing and digital […]
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Vietnam War Veteran and Veterans For Peace activist Scott Camil is the subject of a new graphic novel by Eve Gilbert titled Winter Warrior.
We have packed this Summer 2018 edition of our newsletter Moving Right Along full of the many things that have been going on at SPOHP. To take a look at all the amazing things SPOHP has been up to, click on: https://spark.adobe.com/page/c8Ml7c5Rbxx7f/
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The Veteran’s History Project, founded in 2000, is a collection of 300+ oral history interviews with veterans from military conflicts from the Civil War to present day in partnership with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Please join military veterans and their families for a special Veterans Day film screening of the play “Telling Gainesville.” Telling Gainesville is part of a nationwide initiative by the National Endowment for the Humanities that connects civilian audiences with veterans in a creative, supportive environment. “Telling Gainesville” ran to standing-room- only audiences at the Actor’s […]
On June 8th, 1967, Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats launched a ferocious two-hour attack on and attempted to sink the USS Liberty as she sailed under a U.S. Flag in International waters. Of the 294 men aboard the vessel, 34 were killed and 174 were wounded by a well-coordinated, multi-wave assault that included the use […]
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With the help of coordinators Raja Rahim and Ryan Thompson, the Spring 2017 interns produced podcasts about Civic Engagement at the University of Florida. University of Florida Digital Collections Archive To date, 90+ oral history podcast pieces are available on the University of Florida’s Digital Collections website, including final projects for internship classes, as well as […]
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“A powerful book; a tale of heroism, volunteerism, and sacrifice.”—Gary R. Mormino, author of Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida “Personal anecdotes humanize the narrative and add a poignant impact. The use of newspaper editorials also provides an understanding of how North Carolinians responded to the war.”—Melton A. McLaurin, […]
Read more "Former SPOHP Director Julian M. Pleasants Releases New Book"
The Fall 2017 Internship Application is now open! SPOHP’s semester-long academic internship is available to graduate and undergraduate students for credit as an introduction to the field of oral history. The Fall 2017 Social Justice Initiatives internship offers a space for students to pursue their own interests in social justice research through training and mentoring in […]
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In this final installment of SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie’s three-part podcast on the Gainesville Eight, we hear the story of the federal government’s indictment of the Eight on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention. We hear the lawyer for the defendants assess the prosecution’s case, and describe the legal strategy his firm adopted for defending these veterans in court. We also hear direct testimony from members of the Eight including Scott Camil, as well as other VVAW members who were subpoenaed to testify, in describing the FBI’s infiltration of VVAW and the flagrant violations of their constitutional rights that ensued. Given that we are currently witnessing–and some of us participating in–a new era of demonstration and direct action, this story is of particular relevance to questions of lawful protest and the constitutional rights of demonstrators.
The Villages were an untapped interviewing grounds for our Veteran’s History Project, but since its start, SPOHP volunteer team, the Villages Squad, has collected many invaluable interviews. For the past several months, the team has been tirelessly collecting the stories of World War II veterans living in the Central Florida region. Members Mike Parker, Bruce […]
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In this second installment of SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie’s three-part podcast on the Gainesville Eight, we hear Scott Camil and other members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) describing the founding of the organization and the recruitment of new members. One of the VVAW’s first major actions concluded with a march on the gates of the Capitol in which decorated veterans made short statements into a microphone and then threw their medals over the fence and toward the Capitol building. We also hear about the U.S. government’s harassment of Scott Camil in response to the effectiveness of his activism, preparing us for next week’s final installment which will describe the indictment of the Gainesville Eight on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention.
Just on the heels of Veteran’s Day, SPOHP volunteer John Paul Lorie has assembled a three-part special feature on the Gainesville Eight. Members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Gainesville Eight were indicted on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. This first podcast follows one member of the Gainesville Eight, Scott Camil, through his military experiences in Vietnam and then the events that led him to join the VVAW.
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program had the privilege of getting to know Frank Towers as one of our narrators in our valuable Veterans History Project. Over the years we came to know him as a leader for his fellow veterans, especially WWII veterans. We always had a deep respect for his heroism in WWII, […]
In early March, Deborah Hendrix and Ann Smith trained volunteer teams at Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center and Lake City Veterans Hospital. Click for details about the Veterans History Project!
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Peggy Macdonald, Executive Director of the Matheson History Museum, wrote about SPOHP’s Veterans History Project and Coordinator Ann Smith in the Sun, highlighting the Nov. 11 collaborative Veterans Day public history program.
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Volunteers from the “Village Squad” of the Veterans History Project recently attended the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall exhibit at The Villages in November 2015. Tabling to represent the VHP collection, volunteers spoke with veterans and their families to encourage interviewees to become involved in the oral history project, including Michael Garrity, pictured below. The Vietnam Traveling […]
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To celebrate Veterans Day, the public program will include event speakers Dr. Steven Noll and VHP Coordinator Ann Smith, and a multimedia exhibit of memorabilia and oral histories.
The Veterans History Project (VHP) and Alachua County African-American History Project (AAHP) were high up in the sky this week with Mr. Daniel Keel, who served as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II! Check out photos of the interview and 1942 Vultee BT-13 Valiant flight, piloted by Chris Hoefli, a B-52 pilot and Iraq War veteran. […]
Read more "Like a bird, like a plane…it’s SPOHP! with Tuskegee Airman Daniel Keel"
by Ann Smith, Veterans History Project Coordinator In early 2014, SPOHP Veteran’s Coordinator Ann Smith gathered the volunteers for the Veterans History Project group for a fact-to-face meeting. Ms. Smith’s talk at this meeting inspired Mike Parker to become interested in conducting interviews for the Veteran’s History Project of the Library of Congress, where SPOHP regularly submits […]
Read more "The Villages Squad: Veterans History Project Volunteers in Wildwood, Florida"
Explore the blog series, new online for December 14.
Fall 2014 interns produced podcasts on veterans history. Image from Stephen Dodd, donated to the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. University of Florida Digital Collections Archive To date, 50+ oral history podcasts are available on the University of Florida’s Digital Collections website, including final projects for the entire Spring 2011, 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014 and Fall 2014, intern classes, […]
Every semester, SPOHP’s interns are in some way touched by United States servicemen, past and present. Whether they transcribe a sixty-year-old recording with one of the last living Civil War veterans or talk with a former leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, UF undergraduates encounter the intense experiences of American veterans through oral history. […]
Read more "Oral Histories with Veterans Transform the Ways that Interns Study American History"
For resources and events related to Memorial Day weekend in Gainesville, the following SPOHP media is available to students, researchers, and the general public. May 24-26, 2014: Memorial Mile with Gainesville Veterans for Peace From 7 a.m. on May 24 through dusk on Memorial Day, May 26, Gainesville Veterans for Peace will be displaying 6,781 tombstones to […]
Gainesville Veterans for Peace will be displaying 6,781 tombstones from 7 a.m. on May 24 through dusk on Memorial Day, May 26, 7 p.m. to remember those who have died in the wars in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003.Memorial Mile will line the street along Eighth Avenue just east of 34th Street, […]
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March 12, “Scott Camil: Resistance & Liberation” By Eugenia Hawk, Intern On March 12, 2014, SPOHP hosted a presentation by Vietnam veteran and political activist Scott Camil. The UF Center for Women’s Studies provided the beautiful Ustler Hall atrium, in which the demonstration took place, and by the time Camil began speaking, the entire room was packed […]
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Mary Bahr, a veteran of the Vietnam War, recounts the work of her in-country service as an Intelligence Officer, including challenging sexism in her ranks and living in a devastated conflict zone. http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/01/99/72/00001/VWV-048%20Mary%20Bahr%20Podcast.mp3
Gainesville, FL—August 31, 2013 marked the fortieth anniversary of the acquittal of seven Vietnam War veterans and one supporter indicted for conspiracy to violently disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention. The trial and Gainesville’s role in the peace movement gained national attention when charges were filed against seven activist veterans and one supporter organizing through […]
Mr. Don Obrist has been working with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program since 2011, primarily on the Veterans History Project, with Ann Smith and a talented group of volunteers who hail from all walks of life. Don has interviewed military veterans from a broad range of eras, including World War II, Korea, and Vietnam-era service members. Ann Smith, […]
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He survived the infamous Bataan Death March; he survived bombing attacks by his fellow Americans on Corregidor who were shelling the Japanese on Bataan; he survived two hellish internment camps in the Philippines; he survived the terrifying passage in the hold of a Japanese Hell Ship en route to Japan; and he survived forced labor […]
On Sunday, November 11, SPOHP attended the second annual Veterans Day Parade in Starke, Florida. The event honored local veterans and featured ROTC and veterans groups, including the USO. SPOHP set up a booth to share interviews from our Veterans History Project and to schedule new ones. Staff members Deborah Hendrix, Marna Weston, Sarah Blanc, […]
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On November 10, 2008, SPOHP presented “Testimony of War,” a two-part program in Pugh Hall that attracted several hundred people from the community, including students, faculty, and veterans. Part One The first part of the program premiered the SPOHP-produced documentary titled “I Just Wanted to Live!” SPOHP historian Diane Fischler selected passages from four oral […]