Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive
The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive was founded in 1989 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. It is the United States’ largest and most comprehensive collection about the Vietnam War. The archive preserves a wide range of materials, including documents, photographs, oral histories, artifacts, films, maps, and finding aids.
In 2007, it became the first U.S. institution to sign a formal exchange agreement with Vietnam’s State Records and Archives Department, enabling two-way sharing of materials. The center’s mission is to support research and education about the American Vietnam experience, promote understanding of Southeast Asia, and provide exhibits, classroom resources, and publications. It also collects and preserves historical materials and hosts conferences and symposia.
The center began when a group of West Texas Vietnam veterans and Texas Tech professor James Reckner decided to create a Vietnam Archive. On December 2, 1989, the Texas Tech University Board of Regents approved the center, with a dual goal: develop the archive and encourage ongoing study of the war.
The archive has built strong online access. In 2001, it launched the Vietnam Virtual Archive to make many documents available on the Internet. The Virtual Vietnam Archive began in 2002 with a federal grant of $500,000, and by 2004 another $1.8 million from the Institute of Museum and Library Services helped expand online access.
The center's work includes the Oral History Project (started in 1999) to record memories from those involved in Southeast Asia wars. In 2011, director Steve Maxner noted that the center relies on support from veterans and their memories. He was later honored by the Vietnamese government for his archival work. In 2012, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission awarded $144,000 to digitize the 250,000-page collection of the Association of Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners.
In 2017, the facility was renamed the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive to honor U.S. Representative Sam Johnson, a former prisoner of war who helped Texas Tech secure federal funding. In 2019, a $95,740 National Endowment for the Humanities grant supported editing, transcribing, and publishing online the final oral history interviews. The archive also planned a new, larger facility with a projected cost of about $25 million for the building and $10 million for operating costs.
In 2023, the Heart of Vietnamese Soldiers organization collaborated with the center on the Vietnam War Legacy Files project, which returned diaries and letters from Vietnamese soldiers. A second set of diaries and letters was returned in July 2024.
The center also hosts the Vietnamese American Heritage Project (started in 2008) to document the post-war history of Vietnamese Americans, support researchers, and expand participation in the archive’s programs. A key part of this effort is the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association Collection, which supported thousands of refugees through the UN’s programs in the 1980s and 1990s.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:48 (CET).