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The Vietnam War was a polarizing force in American society from the time U.S. troops were deployed there in 1965 until they were withdrawn in 1973. College campuses often served as focal points of the peace movement, partly because the war directly affected all college-age young men who were being drafted to serve on the battlefields of Vietnam.

This exhibit provides a glimpse of the anti-war protests on the College Park campus during the Vietnam War era. It was mounted as part of the campus-wide Semester on Peace in Fall 2009. If you were on campus during the Vietnam War, we especially invite you to share your memories on this site.

The photographs displayed in the physical exhibit that accompanied this blog were drawn from three collections in the University of Maryland Libraries:

The Baltimore News-American Photograph Archive is a collection of over 1.5 million photographic images, dating roughly from 1906 to 1986, of an active daily newspaper that existed in various forms for more than 200 years until it ceased publication in 1986. The photos displayed were taken by staff photographers and include some that were never published in the newspaper. They are not included on this site because of copyright restrictions, but may be viewed in person by visiting Hornbake Library.

The University Archives serves as the collective memory of the University of Maryland and is the official repository for all of the university’s permanent records and memorabilia that document all aspects of campus life. The photos  displayed were drawn from the Philip Geraci Collection. Philip Geraci was a University of Maryland alumnus and lecturer in the Journalism Department who taught news photography courses. These photographs were taken by his students.

University AlbUM is a digital collection of more than 1300 images of UM student life, athletic events, student athletes, faculty, agricultural pursuits, commencement ceremonies, campus facilities, and much more. The photographs on this page are from University AlbUM and link directly to those images in the digital collection.

The Baltimore News-American Photograph Archive and the Philip Geraci Collection, as well as a wealth of additional materials on this subject, may be accessed in person from the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland.