Teddy Xing, “My Three Years as a George L. Mosse Program Researcher”

My name is Teddy Xing, and for the past three years, it has been my privilege to work with the George L. Mosse Program as an undergraduate and graduate research intern at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. In reflecting on my time with the Program, I feel both saddened to soon move on and unbelievably lucky to have experienced all of the opportunities and challenges that the Mosse Program has presented me. I first joined the Program in the summer of 2024, hoping to develop a sense of what being a historian really means in practice. I was assigned to work with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, something that greatly excited me both as a lifelong Wisconsinite and a prospective United States Air Force officer in training with UW’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. Despite initially expecting to help with minor tasks, the position quickly revealed itself to be something much more valuable: a place to learn, create, improve, and engage with the practice of history. The Mosse Program has been much more than just an internship or job; it has given me the chance to tell meaningful stories while growing as a historian and as a person.

My time at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has been primarily focused on supporting, augmenting, and learning from the Oral History Program, directed by former U.S. Army Captain Luke Sprague. With Luke’s patient guidance, I have learned not only about the practical aspects of preserving veterans’ oral histories in physical and digital media, but also about the mission of the Museum and what it truly means to be an oral historian. I have been extremely lucky to work in this position, not just because of the incredible learning opportunities and working environment, but also because I have been privileged to hear hundreds of veterans’ histories and narratives directly from them. While there are far too many to share here, some that stand out are those of Brigadier General Adria Zuccaro, the current Chief of Staff of the Wisconsin Air National Guard and the first oral history I ever worked on; Ardell “Dell” Schei, a medic with the 192nd Tank Battalion during World War II and a survivor of the Bataan Death March; Robert Thorpe, a United States Air Force pilot with twenty years of service during the Cold War across more than six different airframes; and David Zien, a Marine during the Vietnam War and later a member of the Wisconsin State Senate.

Although the Wisconsin Veterans Museum processes each of these interviews through an organized catalog of numbers and letters, I have had the privilege to listen to each veteran’s story in their own words. There are often shared experiences, but each narrative is a unique piece of history. Oral history is not only a method of preserving facts and information, but also of retaining the feelings and experiences of joy, sorrow, camaraderie, loss, growth, pressure, and homecoming. Each of the Museum’s oral histories follows a distinct template that encourages and allows veterans to tell the stories they want to tell, beginning with childhood and ending after their service.

What struck me most over the years was how often the stories that seemed the smallest became the ones that stuck with me. A veteran might spend only a few minutes describing their closest friends, difficult superiors, or funny jokes, but those details can reveal more about military life than any official report could. I began to understand that an oral historian’s responsibility is not just to record what happened, but also to create a space where people can explain what those events meant to them, preserving the details that might otherwise disappear. The best interview questions are not necessarily the most complicated ones, but the ones that encourage veterans to remember and tell their stories.

My work with the Museum also gave me opportunities to explore the many ways historians can engage with the past. Apart from different methodologies, I have worked with different physical and digital mediums of historical preservation, including digital video interviews, audio recordings, transcripts, archival materials, catalogs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and even old-school VHS and VHS-C tapes. Each project I worked on presented its own unique challenges: summarizing interviews for public-facing cataloging taught me to determine what information mattered; digitizing old interviews into a publicly accessible interface taught me the importance of understanding the technology through which historical records are preserved; and every project taught me to listen carefully and be detail-oriented. These experiences helped me understand that history is not confined to the classroom, archives, or libraries. It exists everywhere that people are willing to pour their hearts, souls, and hundreds of hours of time into preserving, questioning, and sharing the past.

Perhaps most importantly, the Mosse Program has allowed me to discover the active role that history plays and will continue to play in my life. When I first joined the Program as an undergraduate, I knew only that I loved history and was still trying to understand how that interest could influence my career. Three years later, I am leaving as a graduate student with a much clearer appreciation for the value of public history institutions like the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and the people who make them possible. I have learned from historians, archivists, veterans, fellow students, and countless others who have advised, counseled, taught, and trusted me to play a part in preserving their histories. As I now look to the future and begin my own career as a United States Air Force officer, I am especially grateful for the opportunity to have spent these years alongside some of the kindest and most knowledgeable people I have ever met, learning from them and from the countless others whose lives have been shaped by military service.

As I bid a fond farewell to this position and to UW–Madison and begin a new career and the next chapter of my life, I find myself thinking about the hundreds of voices I have encountered through the Museum and the Mosse Program. Their experiences will remain with me long after I leave Madison, and I am keenly aware of the lessons I will carry with me as I approach my own service. Some taught me the value of courage; others taught me about loss, friendship, humor, and the strange and complicated experience of being young and far from home; still others taught me the meaning of duty and service. All of them have reminded me that behind every uniform, unit, deployment, and historical event are individual people whose stories are each worth remembering and sharing. As I begin my own journey in service, I hope to carry their perspectives with me, both as an officer and as a leader who understands the importance of listening to and preserving the experiences of those who serve.

I want to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone who has made my time with the George L. Mosse Program and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum so meaningful. To Luke Sprague, thank you for your mentorship, patience, and willingness to let me learn by doing; I could not have asked for a better mentor and guide in the practice of oral history. And finally, to the staff and volunteers at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, thank you for welcoming me into a community so deeply committed to preserving Wisconsin’s military history. Everyone I have met here has given me the beautiful opportunity to learn, grow, and discover the kind of historian—and person—I hope to become.