History graduate student assists UTA Libraries oral history project

Saturday, Jan 30, 2021

Since April of 2020, Department of History graduate student Joseph Carpenter (History BA '20) has been working to organize UTA Libraries' Maverick Veterans' Voices Project collection.

First launched in Fall 2012 to collect, share, and preserve the experiences and stories of those in the UTA community who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The project's goals are to record the oral histories of University of Texas at Arlington affiliated veterans (alumni, current students, former students, faculty and staff) as well as the loved ones who supported these men and women throughout their careers.

In 2014, a new website presented the first Veterans' Voices interviews; however, all of the interview materials were not accessible. Last year, Digital Publishing began using the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer System or OHMS (https://www.oralhistoryonline.org/) to organize the interviews and make them accessible to researchers and others interested in veterans' oral histories.

Joe, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Desert Storm now pursuing his M.A. in History at UTA, has completed the OHMS process for all of the existing interview materials from the Maverick Veterans' Voices collection, a total of 19 video interviews. He says, "It was a great pleasure to review and arrange the existing interviews. The job has been challenging from time to time as I learned the OHMS System, but seeing the outcome makes it all worth it. I have had the pleasure of getting to know some of the interviewees personally, and the others I feel like I know! Those I have spoken to are very excited that we are continuing the project. I look forward to continuing with new interviews and telling more of the stories of these great UTA affiliated veterans."

(Copy adapted from UTA Libraries blog post "Maverick Veterans' Voices Project is New and Improved!")