Center for the Study of War Experience
Who We Are
The Center for the Study of War Experience is primarily committed to providing a space for individuals to share their stories of war. Since its founding in 2004, the Center has been dedicated to gathering and preserving a wide range of voices and to fostering dialogue and reflection regarding the nuances and complexities of war experience. With the multiplicity of individual narratives from differing perspectives, the Center contributes to a broader analysis and understanding of the political, social, economic and cultural costs of war.
Anchored in Jesuit values, the Center is committed to the theories and practices of oral history and its potential to be a transformative process for the interviewee, interviewer and those who listen to and engage with the individual narratives. With this cornerstone, the Center offers students, researchers and members of the public the opportunity to listen deeply and reflect upon the experiences of others–particularly those who have been underrepresented or marginalized–and therefore collectively bear witness to war and how it affects lives in a multitude of ways.
While the Center’s oral history program began in the 1990s with an urgent focus on recording the stories of aging World War II veterans, we have since expanded the scope of our collection, undergraduate courses and public programming to include civilians, anti-war protestors, refugees and those employed in wartime labor. Most recently, the Center has focused on the experiences of women, Hispanic Vietnam War veterans and African American experiences of war. We are also initiating a new two-year thematic approach to programming with a focus on war from the lens of refugee experiences and cross-campus collaboration.
Stories from Wartime
Since its inception in 1995, Stories from Wartime has remained a seminal undergraduate course at Regis University. The unique course is open to the public and features a series of guest lectures and speakers including veterans and civilians who share their personal experiences and/or expertise with the Regis students and public audience.
The theme for Stories from Wartime changes each year. The 2020 Stories from Wartime course, for example, featured a series on World War II, and the 2021 series focused on the experiences of African Americans from the American Civil War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Due to an outpouring of interest in the 2021 topic, Stories from Wartime will feature the experiences of African Americans again in the spring of 2022. At this time, the 2023 Stories from Wartime theme will revolve around the experiences of refugees. Check back soon for dates for the upcoming 2022 Stories from Wartime series.
Due to its popularity and rich range of guest speakers and topics, Stories from Wartime has been videotaped since the late 1990s. If you are interested in viewing the recorded sessions, please contact us at cswe@regis.edu.
Oral History and Archival Collection
With over 900 hours of recorded interviews and an extensive archive of artifacts, documents, and photos from the interviewees, the Center provides ample opportunities for students and researchers to engage with primary sources. The multiple and nuanced narratives allow students to explore how stories of conflict are told, how individual and collective memories influence and shape those narratives, how war experiences are translated to the public, and how they inform larger conversations about war in society.
Many of our interviews can be accessed in this digital repository hosted by the Regis University Library.
Explore the Collection
