- The Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress
is a snapshot of what America thought of itself
when it was finished in 1897.
It was America trying to tell the world
that we had come of age.
They took 54 unemployed artisans
from the 1893 Chicago World's Exposition,
and it's their work that we see.
It's everything from zodiac signs hidden in plain sight
to men playing baseball in the nude.
You'd be amazed what's in there.
- You're asking about the worst day of my life.
As I got closer and closer to the front line,
I could hear more and more guns.
- Karen: What we do at the Veterans History Project
is to reach out and interview veterans.
- Combat injuries come back on base
and people getting bombed and you're like... [sighs]
That's when you really question of who's actually
making the decisions to do these things.
- All of that madness in boot camp,
I was thinking how simple and easy this was
because my mother was much rougher
than what I was going through in bootcamp, and...
- Oral history is about unearthing, lifting,
and giving wing to stories that may otherwise be marginalized.
We gather first-person narratives
in the form of original photographs,
letters, diaries, journals, and the idea is that
by understanding the fullness
of U.S. service from the human scale,
we understand the fullness of American history.
[ceremonious music]
- Karen: Today, we have three well-known potters
choosing to share their work with us,
with the Veterans History Project.
- To be able to have veterans
in the height of their craftsmanship
come and share with the general public,
the way that they choose to tell their story,
that's what we're all about, is how do you tell your story?
- Patron: So you use different colors?
- Yes, there's different glazes, so...
I did two tours in Iraq.
I was severely injured in 2006.
I spent almost a year in rehab.
I just opened that up a little bit.
You can only do so much physical therapy
and occupational therapy, and you're just exhausted.
So after therapy, every day,
I'd end up just coming back to clay.
There's just something about this medium,
not only the functional value, but also the artistic ability
you're able to narrate to your viewer.
- I was military police during the '91 Gulf War,
MP Company Headquarters Battalion,
First Marine Division.
My wife calls my work war awareness art,
and I think if you're aware of what's happening in a war,
you can't really be for it,
and you're probably against it in a deeper way.
I think clay is a good material to talk about war with.
The cup feels like a pretty small gesture,
but what's more interesting to me is you take the cup
back into your life, and then somebody you already know, love,
and trust, maybe they can share a story.
The cups become a touchstone to speak
about unspeakable things.
[ceremonious music]
Since 2001, I've made and given away over 21,000 cups.
I think I've definitely crossed that line
between productive and obsessive. [chuckles]
- I think after being in a war zone, you're just like,
"Man, I'm gonna do whatever I want."
I was a sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard
deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, and then when I got back,
I became a full-time student at the University of Minnesota
and got my Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics.
My military experience, seeing all the devastation,
I became obsessed
with environmental degradation back home.
And so my work's all about the loss of species and habitats.
[light piano music]
And so, there's lots of horned owls and barred owls,
sandhill cranes.
Fish in the lake.
I really think there's something to clay that just,
the tactileness can really put you in a place,
like when I was teaching veterans,
they'd said those nights, they didn't have nightmares.
It enabled their mind to go someplace else,
to not think about their wartime experience.
And for me, that's, I really enjoy hearing that.
- The Veterans History Project
is about giving the narrative back
to the people who were there,
who witnessed it firsthand,
and having it be part of the Library of Congress
is so very important
because this is the nation's library.
Creating this archive together, collectively,
is democracy in action.
- Ehren: I don't think anything I do
is gonna change the world,
but nothing in the world releases me
from my obligation to try.
You know, peace is the only adequate war memorial.
[ceremonious music]