What is the Legacy Project?
Launched on Veterans Day, 1998, the Legacy Project is a volunteer initiative seeking out historically significant letters from all American wars. Andrew Carroll, the Legacy Project's founder, describes the mission of the organization as an effort "to honor those who served their country by ensuring that their experiences, their sacrifices, and their thoughts are preserved for future generations Nothing has proven more revealing and informative to historians than the actual words of the men and women who participated in great historical events and recorded what they saw."
The Legacy Project is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and will not publish any letters or other materials sent to its attention without the permission of the sender.
What kind of letters is the Legacy Project searching for?
The Legacy Project is looking for letters from all of America's wars, from the American Revolution and the Civil War all the way up to Desert Storm and the war in the Balkans. Examples of letters already received include:
thoughts on leaving home
boot camp experiences
firsthand descriptions of combat, what it's like to be wounded in action, and eyewitness accounts of crimes against humanity
acts of heroism
encounters with prominent military leaders
love letters (including "Dear John" letters)
letters by soldiers to their children back home
letters from the homefront written by anxious family members
letters on the merits (or futility) of fighting for "a greater cause" (including letters by pacifists and war protestors)
letters written to fallen comrades (such as those that have been left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC)
letters by and about women and minorities who've served courageously in the armed forces (ie. war nurses, African-American soldiers, Navajo code talkers, and Japanese-American soldiers)
Many people question whether love letters and other such correspondences are historically significant. According to Carroll, "These letters remind us how disruptive war is to friends and family members back home. Most importantly, though, the more personal letters enable us to put a human face on warfare. They help us to realize that it is not a vast and nameless army that goes off to fight, but individual human beings who have their whole lives ahead of them."
What happens to letters sent in to the Legacy Project?
After reviewing the letters it receives, the Legacy Project will contact the families to discuss with them possible options. For example, letters can be donated to a museum or archive that could exhibit or preserve them for future generations. Nothing is done, however, without the full consent of the veteran or family member who sent in the letter.
The Legacy Project encourages veterans and their families (or anyone who has an extraordinary war letter) to first send a copy of the letter, rather than the original. And although the Legacy Project recognizes the value of diaries, its focus is primarily on letters.
"The most important goal of this project," Carroll states, "is simply to encourage Americans to recognize how valuable their letters are. Every day in America countless letters are thrown out, lost, or destroyed. This is precisely what we are trying to prevent."
Where should I send copies of "historically significant" letters?
Copies of letters can be sent to The Legacy Project's new address at:
The Legacy Project
Attn: Andrew Carroll
PO Box 53250
Washington, DC 20009
(Please include your name and telephone number)
Andrew Carroll is the founder and director of the Legacy Project. He is also the editor of the national bestseller Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters (Broadway Books, 1999). Click here for more information on Andrew Carroll and his book, which includes many previously unpublished letters.
