American Folklife Center and Veterans History Project
With more than 1.5 million items, the Archive of Folk Culture in the American Folklife Center (AFC) is the largest repository of traditional cultural documentation in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It contains the largest collection of American Indian music and spoken word, including the earliest ethnographic field recordings made anywhere in the world. The AFC administers the Veterans History Project, which was established by Congress in 2000 to preserve the reminiscences of the nation’s war veterans. To date, more than 89,000 submissions have been collected, including many from members of Congress. Selected stories are accessible on the project's website. The AFC also administers the StoryCorps project, a nationwide grassroots initiative to record the oral histories of ordinary citizens. The collections will be preserved and made accessible in the Library of Congress.