This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 175 items) |
Abstract | The James R. Wilson Collection of Vietnam Veteran Interviews consists of audio recordings of interviews of Vietnam War veterans from across the South. Interviews document what the veterans were doing before the war, their experiences in combat zones, and the impact of the war on their lives in the years after returning home. Transcripts exist for interviews selected for use in Wilson's Landing Zones: Southern Veterans Remember Vietnam (1990). |
Creator | Wilson, James R. (James Robert), 1942- |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Nancy Kaiser, September 2016
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, September 2016
Updated by: Anne Wells, February 2018
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
James Robert Wilson (1942-) served in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1967 as an Army press officer. From August 1988 to February 1989 he interviewed Vietnam War veterans across the South, gathering their stories about what they were doing before the war, their experiences in the combat zone, and what impact the war had on their lives in the years after returning home. These interviews form the basis of Wilson's book, Landing Zones: Southern Veterans Remember Vietnam (1990).
Back to TopThe James R. Wilson Collection of Vietnam Veteran Interviews consists of audio recordings of interviews of Vietnam War veterans from across the South. Wilson gathered veteran's stories about what they were doing before the war, their experiences in the combat zone, and what impact the war had on their lives in the years after returning home. Transcripts exist for interviews selected for use in Wilson's Landing Zones: Southern Veterans Remember Vietnam (1990). There are also a few photographs, possibly of interviewees; background research materials; letters from veterans interested in participating in the project; and a travel notebook.
Back to TopArrangement: roughly alphabetical.
Processing information: Please note that recordings may contain more than one interview per tape.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Processing information: item descriptions include call number of corresponding interview recordings.
Transcripts for interview recordings selected for use in Wilson's Landing Zones: Southern Veterans Remember Vietnam (1990).
Folder 28 |
Background research"Vietnam War Memorial" poem by Marsha Warren; clipping with statistics on who served in the Vietnam War by state; photocopies of "Country Music and the Vietnam War" by Melton McLaurin in Perspectives on the American South: An Annual Review of Society, Politics and Culture and "Vietnam War" in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; clipping that contextualizes Dan Quayle's service in 1969 in the National Guard in Indiana within his generation. |
Folder 29 |
Landing Zones: IntroductionIncludes an article about Wilson and his project in Leader (July 1989). |
Folder 30 |
Letters, 1988Letters to Wilson expressing interest in participating in his project. |
Image Folder PF-05700/1 |
PortraitsPossibly of interviewees. |
Folder 31 |
Portraits: Alan F. Dehmer (photographer)Letter regarding possible collaboration in the future. |
Image Folder PF-05700/2 |
Portraits: Alan F. Dehmer (photographer)Portrait of interviewee Benny Clark, and contact sheets of other portraits, possibly of interviewees. |
Image Folder PF-05700/3 |
Portraits: Alan F. Dehmer (photographer)Negatives for contact sheet in PF-05700/2. |
Image Folder PF-05700/4 |
Portraits: Alan F. Dehmer (photographer)Negatives for contact sheet in PF-05700/2. |
Folder 32 |
TranscriptsSingle page, unidentified excerpts from interviews. |
Folder 33 |
Travel notebook |