Museum of the Republic of Vietnam 

 

The Museum of the Republic of Vietnam (MuseumRVN) has a variety of ongoing programs in support of the museum's mission, which includes serving as a resource for education and scholarly studies as a key element to the endeavor to honor and preserve the memory of the Republic of Vietnam.

 

 

The word "interview" is often applied to oral history, but at MuseumRVN we approach documenting the memories of those who experienced the history for which the museum is dedicated firsthand from the perspective of a conversation rather than an interview. 

 

The museum actively meets with individuals who are kind enough to share memories of their firsthand experiences of the history of the Republic of Vietnam. 

This includes both veterans and former citizens of the Republic as well as veterans of the many nations who served to defend the Republic as well as any individual who experienced this history, which includes the period of the State of Vietnam (1949-1955), the Republic of Vietnam (1955-1975), the tragic history of ethnic cleansing and persecution post-Black April of 1975,  and the refugee experience whether as individual who encountered this firsthand or as a contemporary witness.

 

 

One of the primary day-to-day functions of the museum is to serve as caretaker to the museum's growing collection of artifacts that pertain to the history to for which the museum is dedicated. 

On a daily basis, museum staff work to contextualize, document, and further research artifacts in the museums collection.

Exhibits are routinely rotated so as to always maintain a dynamic experience for visitors to the museum who can return frequently and always encounter new displays. 

All of the artifacts in the museum's care are preserved and handled with the utmost respect and professional archival standards of the museum field.

The goal is to ensure the long-term preservation of these artifacts so that they can continue to function as tools for education and experiencing this history by all who visit the museum.

 

 

 

 

It is often said that the archives of the Republic of Vietnam were destroyed in 1975. 

However, this statement is only partially true. 

Destruction did take place in that the archives no longer exist. 

But, the records themselves that were once kept in the archives were not so much destroyed as they were "lost."

 

When something is lost, it often can be found again.

 

This is the motivation behind the Archives of the Republic of Vietnam and Saigon Diaspora.

The goal is to develop a database that contains verifiable records of the people who were the Republic of Vietnam.

This is a very broad goal that includes documenting every individual who served in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, the biographical information of each individual as well as all those who served in the government and civil services of the Republic. 

 

The ultimate objective of this goal is to make this database available to the public so that anyone from scholars conducting research to individuals simply wanting to learn more about their family history can access the information within the database to use for their own reference and knowledge. 

 

This archive is still in development, but as of the summer of 2025, it contains records for over 235,000 individuals.