Remembering “The Forgotten War” on Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) honors all who have served -- and continue to serve -- our country in the armed forces. TSLA has many resources about veterans and the wars in which they served. Today, we highlight some of our materials on the Korean War. Sandwiched between World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War (1950-1953) is often called the “Forgotten War.”

TSLA has dozens of books and federal government documents about Korea and the Korean War. These include books like the unique Pictorial Korea: 1951-1952, published by the International Publicity League of Korea in 1953, and the more recent Understanding the Korean War: the Participants, Tactics and the Course of Conflict (2013), by Arthur Mitchell. Among government documents, we have a variety of selections, including the Pocket Guide to Korea, published by the Department of Defense's Office of Information for the Armed Forces, as a guidebook for U.S. soldiers.

TSLA is actively seeking more information about the experience of Tennesseans in the Korean War. Tennessee Remembers: Korean Veterans is a project designed to help veterans of the Korean War preserve their history by collecting original documents, stories, and memorabilia related to their in-country experiences during the war. We invite you to share your experience: http://tn.gov/tsla/VetsProject/koreanwar/index.html.

For a more comprehensive account of our holdings, including related manuscript collections, please see this online guide, Korean War Resources at TSLA: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide14.htm. We also invite you to visit the Korean War page of our online exhibit, The Volunteer State Goes to War: A Salute to Tennessee Veterans: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/veterans/korea.htm and hope you will explore the entire exhibit.

Additional resources about and for veterans

Military Records at TSLA

• Military Records: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/Collections.htm (Click the Military Records bar.)
• Bibliography of Military Records on Microfilm: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/military/milhis.htm

TSLA Resource Guides

• Materials at TSLA Pertaining to the War of 1812: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide04.htm
• "Gloriously Fighting a Glorious Cause": Tennesseans in the War with Mexico, 1846-1848: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide13.htm
• Civil War Soldiers and Citizens: Tracking your Ancestors at TSLA: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide03.htm
• Tennessee in the Great War, 1914-1918: A Guide to Collections at TSLA: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide06.htm
• Tennessee in World War II: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide11.htm

Other Projects

• Looking Back: The Civil War in Tennessee: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/cwtn/index.htm
• Tennessee Civil War GIS Project: http://tnmap.tn.gov/civilwar/
• Vietnam War Veterans Project: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/VetsProject/vietnamwar/index.html

If you have questions about our government document holdings, please visit http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/govdocs/index.htm or tndocs.tsla@tn.gov. For more information about any of these resources, please contact our reference staff at reference.tsla@tn.gov.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.