CINCINNATI (AP) – Army veteran Kevin Lang is a self-described military history buff trying to do his part to help preserve Ohio’s military memorabilia.
The 29-year-old veteran is donating clothing and photos from his service in Afghanistan to the Ohio History Connection. The organization is launching a new, widespread effort to preserve and showcase Ohio’s military past by encouraging donations of items and stories from current and past military service members and their families.
“I think it’s an important part of history that needs to be told,” said Lang, of the Columbus suburb of Gahanna. “And it needs to be told from a personal basis that you don’t get in history books.”
The nonprofit organization especially needs memories and military memorabilia pertaining to the Korean and Vietnam wars and recent conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan, said Cliff Eckle, a history curator with the organization.
Items being sought include service mementos and objects used during and after service that have personal significance for donors. Those could include letters, photos, audio and video recordings and even devices such as walkie-talkies.
Eckle said the organization’s collections involving recent wars are relatively weak compared with those associated with World War II.
“One reason may be that more recent veterans probably don’t even think of their experiences and items as belonging in a museum yet,” Eckle said. “But we want to be able to interview those veterans and collect more oral histories while we have the opportunity.”
A military appreciation day on July 18 at the Ohio History Center will formally start the call for donations and provide opportunities for veterans and others to talk with curators about the need for memorabilia, said Burt Logan, the Ohio History Connection’s executive director and CEO.
“We want to make sure that while there are still a sizable number of persons who participated in the Cold War conflicts, that we not only issue the call for these items but that we also know the history behind them,” he said. “Understanding the individual experiences is where the real power in these objects lies.”
Donated items are stored at the organization’s collections facility or in its Ohio History Center archives in Columbus, where they can be viewed in a research room. Some items may be displayed at the center or among the Ohio History Connection’s more than 50 historic sites around the state, with loans to other institutions possible. Some also will be displayed at the new Ohio Veterans Memorial and Museum slated to open in Columbus in 2017.
When making decisions about acquiring and preserving particular items, the organization takes into account oral histories, letters and documents that accompany objects and may compare them to others already in its collection. Ohio History Connection also relies on its curators to make judgment calls based on their expertise and knowledge of materials from particular time periods.
The call for donations is being made to veterans and service members from all branches _ wartime and peacetime — and from under-represented groups such as women and minorities, Eckle said. The organization is working with veterans groups and using social media among other means to spread the word.
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By LISA CORNWELL, Associated Press
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