I WANT TO SAVE YOUR
MEMORIES OF THE WAR
THAT SAVED THE WORLD

The Institute on
World  War II and the
Human  Experience 

Mission Statement
Endorsements & Letters
Academic Advisory Board
Information & Packet
Donations
Oral History Program
Exhibits & Photographs
Resources
Newspaper Articles
WWII Links
Publishers
Speakers Bureau
Media & the Arts
Traveling Exhibit
College Work Study

YOUR DONATION IS IMPORTANT TO THE EDUCATION OF TODAY'S STUDENTS

Many students are not learning what they need to know about WWII.  What they will get from your letters, diaries, photographs, memoirs, etc. are the poignant personal account of the average man and woman who served during WWII overseas as well as on the home front.  Your personal experiences of what it was like they can not get a from a textbook.  Most of what they get from textbooks are important dates and facts that are retained only long enough to pass their history tests.  Learning about an individual's personal experience makes it more "real" to them so that they will want to learn more about WWII and then retain the significant of WWII.  Below are some students comments relating to WWII:

• "Who won the war?"
   

• "Which side were we on?"
   

• A WWII veteran was walking on the beach with a hat on that had USS Enterprise printed on it.  A student stopped the man saying that he thought it was neat the man was wearing a "Star Trek" hat.  The veteran explained to the student that the hat did not represent "Star Trek" but rather that this was the ship he served on during WWII.

After hearing some of these student comments I hope you will think about your WWII memorabilia and what you should do with them.  If you are not ready to release your precious memorabilia then consider writing it in your will where you would like to donate your WWII memorabilia to.  To learn more about about donating your WWII memorabilia to us click on donate WWII memorabilia.