LSU School of Information Studies Edward Benoit, III, PhD, Awarded IMLS Grant to Support Vietnam-Era Veterans’ Record Keeping
November 04, 2025
BATON ROUGE, LA — Louisiana State University School of Information Studies (SIS) has been awarded a $91,430 National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to launch the Virtual Footlocker Project 2: Supporting Vietnam-Era Veterans’ Documentation
of Their Military Record. 
Led by Edward Benoit, III, PhD, interim director of SIS, and Heather Soyka, PhD, associate professor in the School of Information at Kent State University, the two-year planning project (August 2025–July 2027) will create an implementable program for librarians, archivists and Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) to help Vietnam-era veterans document and preserve their personal and service records.
“This project builds on years of work connecting veterans with the tools to tell their own stories,” Benoit said. “Our goal is to ensure that the experiences and memories of Vietnam-era veterans are preserved for their families, their communities and for history.”
The Virtual Footlocker Project 2 (VFP 2) expands upon Benoit’s earlier IMLS-funded Virtual Footlocker Project, which developed resources to help post-2000 service members and recent veterans create and maintain personal record collections known as “Love-Me Binders.” These collections - composed of service documents, photos, journals, and awards - have proven vital for preserving a sense of identity after service.
Why It Matters
VFP 2 shifts focus to Vietnam-era veterans, a group whose average age is now 75 and who comprise roughly 30% of all living U.S. veterans. Many in this generation lack complete personal or official documentation of their military experiences due to lost or destroyed records. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the nation loses an estimated 131 Vietnam veterans every day. These irreplaceable firsthand accounts, personal photographs, letters home and service documentation disappear, taking with them vital pieces of American history and family heritage. The project aims to save the legacy of this rapidly disappearing demographic by adapting modern recordkeeping tools to meet the needs of veterans whose materials are largely analog rather than digital.
Personal and official records also play an essential role in veterans' wellness, supporting legacy, access to care and community connection. These materials serve multiple critical functions:
- Access to Benefits and Healthcare: Personal records can provide crucial evidence for VA disability claims, particularly when official service records are incomplete or destroyed. A photograph showing a veteran in a specific location, a letter mentioning an injury or a journal entry documenting exposure to Agent Orange can make the difference between a denied and approved claim. With the recent expansion of benefits under the PACT Act for veterans exposed to toxic substances, comprehensive documentation has become even more vital.
- Mental Health and Identity: Research demonstrates that personal records help veterans process their experiences and maintain connections to their service identity. For Vietnam veterans, many of whom faced hostility upon returning home, these materials offer validation of their service and sacrifice. The act of organizing and sharing their stories can be therapeutic, helping veterans integrate their military experience into their life narrative.
- Family Legacy and Healing: For the children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans, these records provide insight into a formative period of their family member's life that may have been difficult to discuss. As veterans age and pass away, these materials become treasured family heirlooms that preserve memory across generations.
- Historical and Educational Value: Vietnam-era personal records offer perspectives that official military histories cannot capture—the daily realities of service, the emotional toll of combat, the complexity of the war's social and political context. These materials are invaluable for researchers, educators and future generations seeking to understand this pivotal period in American history.
The Project
The project includes three key objectives:
- Survey and analyze ethnographic data from Vietnam-era veterans to understand their recordkeeping needs.
- Develop and enhance collaborations among libraries, archives and veteran organizations to support access to and preservation of veterans’ records.
- Identify new opportunities for libraries and archives to connect veterans with community resources and benefits.
In its first year, the research team will conduct focus groups with veterans, library and information science professionals and VSO representatives to assess existing initiatives and document needs. In its second year, the project will convene a two-day collaborative planning meeting—hosted by the National WWII Museum—to design a national program model that local libraries can adopt to run their own veteran-support initiatives.
Personal and official records play an essential role in veterans’ wellness, supporting legacy, access to care and community connection. By bringing together the expertise of librarians, archivists and veteran advocates, VFP 2 seeks to empower Vietnam-era veterans to preserve their stories and secure the recognition and benefits they have earned.
“Libraries and archives are trusted spaces where communities gather to remember, learn and honor,” Benoit said. “Through this project, we hope to make them even more veteran-friendly and inclusive of the stories that shaped our nation.”
The project reflects SIS’s ongoing commitment to advancing research that connects information, community engagement and human experience. Its outcomes will include freely available tools and resources that libraries and organizations across the country can use to support veterans.
About the LSU School of Information Studies
The LSU School of Information Studies (SIS) provides a 100% online prestigious education
in library & information science. It is the home of the Master of Library & Information
Science, which is the only program accredited by the American Library Association
in the state of Louisiana. SIS also offers a dual degree with the Department of History,
an undergraduate minor, and three graduate certificate options. SIS is a member of
the iSchools, a group of Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information
field. SIS is part of the LSU College of Human Sciences & Education.
Visit the School of Information Studies website.
About the College of Human Sciences & Education
The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division
of Louisiana State University. The college is comprised of the School of Education,
the School of Information Studies, the School of Kinesiology, the School of Leadership
& Human Resource Development, and the School of Social Work. CHSE has two model demonstration
schools, the Early Childhood Education Laboratory Preschool, enrolling birth to age
four and the University Laboratory School enrolling Kindergarten through grade 12.
The college also has four centers and institutes: the Early Childhood Education Institute,
the Healthy Aging Research Center, the Leadership Development Institute, and Social
Research & Evaluation Center. The college is committed to achieving the highest standards
in teaching, research, and service and aims to improve quality of life across the
lifespan.