U.S. Army Heritage Collection Online

Spent some time today exploring this collection.  I found lots of letters and diaries but unfortunately they  not digitized and I do not live on the East Coast anymore to enable a visit.  However, they will look for things for you.  So I've sent a message to them and hope I get a reply.  They also have the largest known collection of civil war photographs.  Those are really interesting.  I found several that I want them to copy for me to possibly use in the book.

Here is the website address:     http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp

I've still been posting things on different mil spouse venues in hopes of getting some responses.  I've come up with what you could call a talking points sheet that tells about the project and gives questions incase people don't know what to write about.

I went to the clinic on Maxwell AFB to get prescriptions filled.  While I was waiting in the pharmacy area, I want to go up to spouses sitting around and tell them about the project.  But I fear they'll think I'm a little crazy and call the Security Police.  :)

Ft. Sam Houston and the other things

Wives (of US Army Captains) join drag hunt

In late July I went to San Antonio to print a book and my friend Lauren do some research for her next artist book.  We traveled to some sites in San Antonio including the Institute of Texan Cultures special collection library of manuscripts and photographs.  As I will need some sort of illustration or visuals to include in the book,  I thought I'd look through what they had on Ft. Sam Houston, a very historic Army fort that is still very active today.  In fact, I lived on Ft. Sam Houston two times as a kid.  So I began to search the files and found a few gems of past wives doing various things.

I also contacted the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, MS to see if there was anybody interested in being interviewed for this project.  The response was positive and I'll go down on Sept. 14th.  

However, I am a little discouraged about the lack of responses I've gotten from current spouses.  I hope that will change with a little creative thinking on my part for that is really the whole point of this - to have those who stand beside or behind the active duty member - give a voice to who they are.

Start It Up, Again

I can't believe that summers almost gone, that I've moved 2 hours south, received our household goods and for the most part gotten everything in it's place.  Now I can get back on track conducting research about mil spouses from the distant past.  I'm also hoping to go to Gulfport, MS to the Armed Forces Retirement facility there and interview mil spouses from the not so distant past.  Now that I'm back online, I hope to post about my progress on a more regular basis.  Cheers!