Monmouth College
From the Corn Fields to the Rice Paddies
Illinois Archives with Vietnam Era Documents
The Chicago Historical Society has a collection of records, papers, newsletters, and magazines in relation to the Vietnam Era. The society's on-line catalog is not yet available, however, you can contact the archivists at 312-642-4600.
In the "Student Affairs" collection under "Campus Unrest" there is a flier calling for a Moratorium on the war. In the photographic section of "Student Affairs," one folder contains some anti-war photographs. Both the DePaulia, the student newspaper, and the Alethea, an independent newspaper written and distributed by students, contained articles about the Vietnam War.
A majority of the Vietnam Era documents at Loyola relate to the Kent State killings in May 1970. As a result of that situation, Loyola students held a protest strike. They have one document outlining the motive and direction of the strike as well as 40-50 photos of the strike and the anti-war protests. The student yearbooks also include some photographs of anti-war protests. The student newspapers periodically carried articles and pictures about the Vietnam Conflict.
The Northwestern University archives hold a variety of materials documenting student reaction to the Vietnam War, including newspaper clippings, photographs, flyers, manifestos and official announcements, and such artifacts as armbands and buttons. Those materials are available for research use on site. The NIU archives are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
The archives at the University of Illinois at
Springfield includes an oral history collection with some histories from the
Vietnam Era, listed as follows, from their website:
AR64 Arnold, C775 Cooke, C839 Cox, D298* Davis, D650* Do, D738* Dorosheff, D988*
Dyer, EN37 Engs, H818 Huston, IP5* Ippolito, J122 Jack, K321 Kempe, K879 Krell,
P213* Parbs, SH49* Shepherd, W177 Walton;
--nurses in, B860 Buechler, L157 Lally, N486 Newton;
--opposition to, AR64 Arnold, B816* Brown, C461* Chrisman, G565L Golden, H123
Hagler, J122 Jack, M575* Meyer, R365 Rice, ST71 Stone, W146 Waldmire.
Springfield also has a 1984 video production by Chuck Hill entitled "The Invisible Veterans" featuring interviews with military nurses who served in Vietnam.
The University of Illinois at Champaign's archives holds a variety of documents from the Vietnam Era. These include the "Campus Unrest" file, various student publications, and collections concerning anti-war activity on campus. Key search words include "Vietnam," "Viet Nam," "protest," "anti-war movement," "student demonstrations," and "campus unrest."
If you are an archivist or a librarian with materials in your collection concerning the experiences of people in the Midwest during the Vietnam Era, we'd like to add your archive to our page! Please contact us!