Preserving History: Captioning and Court Reporting Program Helps Tell Stories of U.S. Veterans

Students and faculty transcribe firsthand accounts for Library of Congress collection

Students in the Captioning and Court Reporting program at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) are using their classroom skills to help preserve the personal histories of U.S. military veterans.

A group of 25 students and faculty from the program are volunteering their time and skills to transcribe hours of interview footage for the Veterans History Project. Students transcribe interviews of veterans — as far back as World War I and as recent as the Persian Gulf War — and faculty then proofread the transcripts before they are sent to the Library of Congress.

Their work was featured by News 5 Cleveland.

"I just think being older, looking back and showing my kids what I've been able to do will be really cool," Tri-C student Hannah Porach said.

"I think it's really important that their stories are preserved and told," said student Kristen Massey. "They'll be in the Library of Congress forever."

The Library of Congress started the Veterans History Project in 2000 to collect and preserve the firsthand accounts of U.S. wartime veterans. Since then, tens of thousands of oral histories have been recorded and are available on the Library of Congress website. The National Court Reporters Association partnered with the Library of Congress to create transcripts to make the oral histories searchable and more accessible.

Adjunct professor Stefanie Sweet volunteered for the project after her late grandfather, a U.S. Navy veteran, was interviewed for the Veterans History Project.

"We can always go back to it and hear his voice and listen to his experiences during World War II," she said. 

Read the story at news5cleveland.com.

November 14, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT: Anthony Moujaes, 216-987-3068 or 216-987-3068