BROWN UNIVERSITY’S VIETNAM VETERANS ARCHIVE is a growing collection and oral history project initiated by David Taylor ’66 (Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, 1966–1971) and Professor Beth Taylor, Co-Director of Brown’s Nonfiction Writing Program (no relation). The Archive captures stories of Brown’s veterans who served in all branches of the military. It includes memories of those killed, missing in action, and held as prisoners of war. Currently, the project has helped identify more than 100 names of Brown alumni who graduated between the late 1950s and early 1970s and served, in some capacity, in Vietnam. Only 15 of these alumni are represented in the Archive thus far. Their collections include personal items and ephemera, such as photographs, clothes, documents, correspondence, and memorabilia.
This Archive is a work in progress, and not comprehensive. The picture it paints can only develop through participation. Do you, or does someone you know, have a story of a Brown Vietnam Veteran to contribute? If so, contact University Archives: archives@brown.edu
As part of the 50-year reunion events for the Class of 1966, Brown University Library developed an exhibition, The Vietnam War : Our Veterans’ Stories, on view from May 28 – August 19, 2016 in the main gallery of the John Hay Library. This exhibition followed the stories of several of the contributors to the archive, from their years at Brown, through their trials in Vietnam, and, in the more fortunate cases, their journeys back to civilian life at home.