BHS Exhibit

Cliopatria readers from the New York City area should put on their calendar a new Brooklyn Historical Society exhibit,"In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans." The exhibit, which opens Saturday, was overseen by Phil Napoli, a colleague of mine from Brooklyn College, who has conducted dozens of oral histories with Vietnam-era veterans. As Dennis Hamill of the Daily News recently observed, Napoli has provided"the most comprehensive oral history of [the Vietnam] war in the city's history."

The basic structure of the exhibit, laid out in Hamill's article:

Noted photographer Alison Cornyn, BHS' director of picture projects, took life-size digital portrait photos, printed on canvas, of the nine main interviewees, which will be stationed around the exhibit. Beside each photo will be an artifact case containing personal belongings, diaries, medals and other mementos of the war. On the 35-minute tour, when you step in front of each photo, it will trigger a three-to-five-minute recorded clip of that veteran's personal story, in his own words.

The BHS website, with directions, is here. [Update, 12-14: The exhibit received a glowing review in today's Times, whose on-line site also has excerpts from the veterans' oral histories.]