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Marilyn Knapp Litt, a retired webmaster for the federal government, created the Women in Vietnam web site due to her combined interests in computers and the Vietnam War. She sought to provide a site where people could access information on the many overlooked women in Vietnam. In addition, the site’s purpose is to provide women that served in the war a place to share their experiences with other female Vietnam War veterans. The site includes collections of interviews and personal accounts from individual women who have participated in a forum run by Litt. Each quotation or remark contains a link to either a related secondary source on the topic, the web site it was obtained from, or further information on the source of the statement. She separates the accounts into three types of participation: women in the Red Cross, military women, and military nurses. In addition, the site offers avenues to get in touch with female veterans and photo tours of individuals’ trips and experiences in Vietnam. The site is not very professional looking. It definitely gives the impression that the creator of the site is an amateur historian, more focused on providing a site that compiles Internet resources to serve as an index of Vietnam sources on the net. It does not have a search engine and the scope and depth of the material leaves much to be desired. In this way, the reliability of the information is questionable. The sources appear to be very legitimate, probably coming from actual women veterans, but determining where and under what circumstances the documents originated undermines the validity of their usefulness. Because most of Litt’s materials come from women that have contacted her or from other web sites there is no assurance that her sources are legitimate. In addition, only women who have access to computers and the time to contact Litt are included in the story of women’s experiences in Vietnam. This web site cannot be used to provide complete assessments of all women’s experiences in Vietnam because the scope is too narrow and limited. The usefulness of this web site is limited. Middle school and high school students could benefit from the relatively introductory approach to the lives of women that served in Vietnam. The site includes a guide for students on how to interview a veteran with sensitivity and understanding. Female veterans of the war can benefit from sharing experiences with other veterans and finding people that they might have known when they served and since lost communication with. Although college students might not be able to use the site for research and papers, the information incites inquiry and possible paths of research that they might not have thought of due to the lack of significant sources on the topic. Although the information cannot be truly validated strictly from its interpretation on the web site, scholars could benefit from the access it grants to the women still alive to provide personal accounts and interviews. Researchers can participate in the online forum and discussion through meeting people that would share their experiences in a relaxed and non-confrontational atmosphere. The web site is a great tool to establish contacts with untapped resources and lead to a more in-depth discussion that could benefit historians of women’s history and gender studies. Jill Fox
April 21, 2004 |