About the Center
UTK Professor of History Dr. Charles W. Johnson started the Center in 1988. He partnered with John Dobson, head of the UT Libraries’ Special Collections, to establish the Center. Dr. Johnson had been recording oral histories as a documentary record of World War II. Over the decades, the Center has become one of the nation’s leading resources for military history. Our collection includes interviews with veterans, a wide variety of military records from draft cards to service records, letters between veterans and their families, photographs, maps, and more.