March 21, 2005

Press contacts: Anneliesa Clump Behrend aclump@loc.gov; Audrey Fischer afis@loc.gov
Public contact: (888) 371 5848

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT
NAMED “TOP 50” IN GOVERNMENT BY HARVARD

Award Recognizes Innovation in Government

The Library of Congress Veterans History Project was selected as one of the “Top 50” for the 2005 Innovations in American Government Award competition. Now in its 18th year, the competition is a program of the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, administered in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government.

The Veterans History Project is honored to be recognized by Harvard as an example of innovation in government,” said Diane Kresh, director of the project. “The Library of Congress shares this recognition with the thousands of veterans, civilian service workers and volunteers around the country who have participated in this national documentation project of America during times of war.”

Often referred to as the “Oscar” of government prizes, the award recognizes 50 of the most creative, forward-thinking, results driven government programs at the federal, state, county and city levels. The “Top 50” are now eligible to win one of six $100,000 grants.

The Library of Congress Veterans History Project—a nationwide, volunteer program—collects firsthand accounts of U.S. wartime veterans and civilian service workers from World War I through the current conflicts. To date, the project has collected more than 33,000 oral histories and memorabilia from individuals for the national collection in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Selections from the collection are accessible through an interactive Web site at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.

The six winning programs will be announced on July 27 by the Innovations in American Government National Selection Committee. The committee, chaired by David R. Gergen of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard, includes former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former San Diego Mayor Susan Golding and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives William Clinger.

For more information about the award and a description of each of the 50 award-winning programs, visit http://www.ashinstitute.harvard.edu/ and http://www.excelgov.org/.

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