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Tale of War is about the stories that wars leave behind: who tells them, how they are kept, and how they change as they pass from memory into history.

If you want to record a veteran in your family, begin with How to record a veteran's story and the free interview guide.

If you are researching a relative's service, start with Finding a veteran's military service records.

If you are a student or teacher, Primary vs. secondary sources is the best first read.

I. Storytelling Through the Ages

From carved temple walls to soldiers' letters and the poets of the trenches: how people have told the story of war, and why each telling matters.

1. From Kadesh to Troy: The Oldest War Stories (8 min)
2. Thucydides and the Birth of War History (8 min)
3. Letters Home: The American Civil War in Soldiers' Own Words (8 min)
4. The Soldier-Poets of the First World War (8 min)

II. Preserving Veterans' Voices

Practical, carefully sourced guidance for families, students and volunteers who want a veteran's story to outlast the people who heard it first.

1. How to Record a Veteran's Story: A Practical Guide (9 min)
2. The Library of Congress Veterans History Project: What It Is and How to Contribute (8 min)
3. Finding a Veteran's Military Service Records (9 min)
4. Oral History Ethics: Consent, Trauma, and Respect (8 min)

III. Firsthand vs. History

An eyewitness and a historian are both telling the truth as they can see it. Here is how the two kinds of account differ, and how they work together.

1. Primary vs. Secondary Sources in Military History (8 min)
2. Memory and the War Memoir: Why Recollections Change (8 min)
3. How Historians Weigh Eyewitness Accounts (9 min)

Also on the site

• The Library: a curated reading list
• Glossary of records, forms and terms
• About and editorial standards