Category Archives: Education

David Baum in Uzbekistan

Name: David Baum
Country of Service: Uzbekistan (with training in Guatemala)
Service Type: English Teacher
Dates in Service: 1992-1993
Keywords: Community Development, Education, Literacy, Youth

Accession Date: September 22, 2020
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 0.25 linear feet

Document Types:

  • Correspondence
  • Newspapers & Newsletters
  • Publications
  • Training Materials

Finding Aid:

  1. Correspondence, February 1994-March 1997 (1 of 2) 
    1. Letters, postcards, holiday invitations, etc. 
  2. Correspondence, no date (2 of 2) 
    1. Letters, postcards, holiday invitations, etc. 
  3. ID Cards and Uzbekistani Currency 
  4. Newspaper Clippings, April 1995-February 1997 
  5. Notebook and Personal Notes, July 1992-February 1993 
  6. Publications, 1985-1997 
    1. Newsletters, Airline Magazines, Published Book Chapters 
  7. Teaching Materials, No Date (1 of 2) 
  8. Teaching Materials, No Date (2 of 2) 
    1. Ambiguous as to whether teaching materials originate from Baum’s training in Guatemala or service in Uzbekistan 

Priscilla Murray in Turkey

Name: Priscilla Mae Murray
Country of Service: Turkey
Place of Service: Konya (taught at Konya Maarif Koleji)
Dates in Service: 1967-1969
Keywords: Community Development, Education, Environment, Health, Youth

Accession Date: September 9, 2020
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 0.01 linear feet

Document Types:
• Correspondences
• Photographs

Finding Aid:

  1. Correspondence, 1967-1969 
  2. Description of Peace Corps Volunteer Service 
  3. Writing about training, interactions with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers 
  4. Includes postcard 
  5. Photographs & Slides, 1968 
  6. Pictures of Priscilla Murray with her students  

Character Reflections from Kambia, Sierra Leone

In 1983, Jim and Carolyn Hitter left a notebook in the Peace Corps Rest House in Kambia, Sierra Leone, as a way to remember the work of their fellow volunteers. Scrawled on the inside cover of the faded notebook: “Dedicated to us, the PCV’s, VSO’s of Kambia. Twenty years of Volunteers have been here and left no record, no footprints…With this small beginning maybe our successors will know us by our deeds and misdeeds.” 

Once the first journal filled, other PCVs added another in 1988. Many of the entries are a bit of gossip, others are firsthand reflections and memories of their time in Sierra Leone.

Here are some entries from the two notebooks:

Dewey- N. Carolina

Econ major at UNC? Aggie [Agriculture] at Bapinga 1980-1982. Extended to fisheries winter of ’82. Lived with Pa Laurin. Seemed to get along well with farmers. Speak languages well. Mr. Generosity. Dewey gives things away!

Extremely conservative politically. 

Married Sierra Leonean, Regina Durwig, at Pt. Loko on 9 July 1983.

No; Dewey’s father came to S.L. to convince him that this was not a wise thing so Dewey’s wedding apparently turned into an “engagement party.” 

In fact, Dewey went home without Regina and apparently with an agreement that he would never come back, nor send for her.

Page from Jim Hitter’s Notebook, Jim Hitter Collection, Peace Corps Community Archives.

Logan 72-74

History at Kolenten. Had a masters in World History and a BA in African History. (Orland was in his Form III Class). There was a riot at school because all the history students were getting poor grades. “Logan must go or die” was chalked on the streets. According to Orlando, “he resembled Jesus and he never laughed.

Jim Hitter, 1982-1984 Kambia
…”Lived” (in a matter of speaking) through 2-3 extensive beer droughts. Saw the price of STAR [beer] go from $.80 to $4.00.

…Never taught before this experience and never will again. In fact I expect never to work again. My background for this was some years as an engineer in the aerospace industry, VISTA (in a veterans project in Seattle) and 10 years retirement. I would have been long gone if it hadn’t been for the support/love/and good humor of Carolyn, my wife!

Martin Seviour, 
1980-1982, Sewafe/Kono
1982-1984, Kambia

I’m leaving this country tomorrow after 4 years, and it does seem a day too long! I’m a VSO. I taught secondary English in Sewafe for two years and came to Kambia to work in the KELT Primary English Project.

I dislike Kambia only slightly less than Jim Hitter and know only slightly more Temne…I would like to deny all rumours that I extended only to avoid the draft for the Falklands War. 

Hopefully, I will be the first of a long line of VSO’s using the Kambia Rest House. I would like to express my thanks to all the PCVs who have strived at all time to let me not feel inferior. Special thanks should go to Douglas whom I’ve only known for a short time but who has been a good friend (Keep the toilet clean Dough!) and to the Hitters who have put up with my verbal ramblings late into the might and have cooked wonderful meals and given me lots of encouragement and advice…”

Carolyn Hitter
1982-1984, Kambia, Primary Workshops

…The Hitters lived in the “suburbs” –on the fringe of Kambia at Kolenten. The greatest thing thaat happened in Kambia was finding Kemokoh, an excellent cook, an honest man, and the only Sierra Leonean to complete a job on time…

Jim and Carolyn, old enough to be the parents of other Kambia volunteers (47 and 45) showed their age by drinking more beer than most. All those years of practice, you know!

Jim and Carolyn Hitter, 1982. Jim Hitter Collection, Peace Corps Community Archives.

[Added by another volunteer:] “Pictured above in typical form. Great people who are well worth visiting should anyone pass through Seattle.”

And in the second journal…

Bernadette
“I succeeded Chris Lavin in Bayonde village. I have enjoyed living with the Jimbra people, and tell God “tenki” everyday that I was not placed in Temne-land; Bayonde is a “seke-free zone.”

…Unlike the other Kambia PCV’s and VSO’s, I was not particularly fond of Kambia, mostly because of the rude, obnoxious, ruff bobos that hung around the rest house, whose hobby was to taunt me…

Anyway, back to Bayonde and my Peace Corps “work.” I think all of us PCV’s have realized that we are not here for the work we do; we are here as cheap P.R. for the American government. I guess that’s not so bad as long as we realize that, and also realize that we are not going to “develop” this country. As I’m sure you’ve heard a zillion PCV’s say: It’s not the work that counts so much, it’s enjoying the people and the culture where you will get the most satisfaction. At least, this has been true in my case…

I am a living example of why the Peace Corps has decided to bag the motorcycles. I broke my ankle in a Honda spill and was unnecessarily sent back to D.C. (a Salone doctor wanted to operate–yikes!) Even though an operation was unnecessary, I tell Peace Corps plenti plenti tenki for that wonderful holiday!”

Bernadette on her motorcycle in Sierra Leone. Featured in her entry in the second notebook. Jim Hitter Collection, Peace Corps Community Archives.

After the program in Sierra Leone disbanded in the ‘90s, the journals made their way to the United States. In his own notes about the journals, Jim explains: “In 1994, when rebel activity became too much, the Peace Corps was ordered out of the country. The diaries (and the large US flag that hung on the Resthouse wall) were rescued by the Catholic fathers and sent to the US.” 

Another RPCV preserved the journals until 2002, when they were ceremoniously revealed at the Friends of Sierra Leone annual meeting and 40th Peace Corps Anniversary Celebration in Washington, D.C.

Jim Hitter in Sierra Leone

Name: Jim Hitter
Country of Service: Sierra Leone
Place of Service: Kambia
Dates in Service: 1982-1984
Keywords: Agriculture, Community Development, Education, Environment, Health, Youth

Accession Date: March 5, 2020
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 0.25 linear feet (located in small collections)

Document Types
• Photographs
• Diaries

Digital collection

Finding Aid

  1. “Kast of Kharacters: Kambia” Journal with entries from PCVs in Staging in Sierra Leone, 1980-1988 
  2. “Kambia Cast of Characters: Part II” 1986-1991 

Peter Crall in Libya

Name: Peter Crall
Country of Service: Libya & Thailand
Place of Service: Cyrenaica
Dates in Service: 1968-1969, 1969-1973
Keywords: Community Development, Education

Accession Date: January 30, 2020
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 1 linear inch (located in small collections)

Document Types/Finding Aid

  • Memoir  Edited by Catherine Dellapenta and Rosalind Pearson, “East of the Marble Arch,” c. 1968-1969 

Lorelei Christl Robinson and Gary D. Robinson in Colombia

Name: Lorelei Christl Robinson and Gary D. Robinson
Country of Service: Colombia
Service Project Title: Peace Corps Staff, 1965-1971
Dates in Service: 1961-1963-; 1963-1965
Keywords: Education

Accession Date: January 17, 2020 (updated May 7, 2021)
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 1.5 linear feet (Friends of Colombia Boxes 58 and 59)

Document Types

  • Photographs
  • Reports
  • Publications
  • Training Materials

Finding Aid

Box 58 

  1. Peace Corps Training, Guatemala, 1968 
  2. Recruitment Pamphlets 
  3. “Evaluation of the Peace Corps Program in the Eastern Caribbean,” Interview Formats by
  4. Gary D. Robinson 
  5. Field Data Collected by Dorial Blackett-Molloy and Gary D. Robinson, Evaluation of the Peace
  6. Corps in the Eastern Caribbean 
  7. Final Evaluation, On-Site Observation and Final Evaluation, Eastern Caribbean, April-May 1972 
  8. Guidelines for Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Training, Part 1-3 
  9. Interim Report, Staff Training, Eastern Caribbean, March-April 1972 

Box 59 

  1. Instructor’s Manual, Self-Assessment Workshop, 1969 
  2. Photographs, 1963 
  3. Publications, 1963-1986 
  4. Slides Finding Aid  
  5. Slides, trays 1-5, 1965-1966 
  6. Slides, trays 6-9, 1967 
  7. Slides, trays 10-11, 1967 and 1973 
  8. Binder: “Peace Corps Training Program; Colombia XI, Ecuador V; The University of New Mexico; July 12 to October 12, 1963”: contains training materials, schedules, and various notes 

Peter J. and Kathryn W. Hansen in Nigeria

Name: Peter J. and Kathryn W. Hansen
Country of Service: Nigeria
Place of Service: University of Ife, Ibadan
Service Project Title: Chemistry faculty
Dates in Service: 1966-1968
Keywords: Education

Accession Date: December 18, 2019
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 0.25 linear feet (located in small collections)

Document Types

  • Correspondence
  • Photographs
  • Publications

Finding Aid

  1. Correspondence, 1966-1969 
  2. Licenses, Passports, and Vaccinations 
  3. Publications, 1968 and 1986 

Phil Fretz in Sierra Leone

Name: Philip Fretz
Country of Service: Sierra Leone
Place of Service: Kenema
Service Type: English teacher
Dates in Service: 1967-1969
Keywords: Education

Accession Date: January 8, 2020
Access: No Restrictions
Collection Size: 85 digital files

Document Types

  • Documents
  • Photographs
  • Film/Video

Digital Collection

Related Items in Other Repositories

Finding Aid

  1. Memoir, Softball, Snakes, Sausage Flies and Rice: Peace Corps Life in 1960s Sierra Leone, 2013. Transferred to general collection.
  2. Digital files including Peace Corps Sierra Leone Mende Language Manual , “Hike to the Falls” Video, digital images  

Volunteers to America: a Case of National Service

B. Paxton is an anthropology graduate student in Dr. Adrienne Pine’s Craft of Anthropology I course (ANTH-601). This blog post was written in fulfillment of a course assignment.

In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressed Congress and called for the establishment of a “reverse peace corps”, in which volunteers would come from other countries to teach and assist in development projects in the United States as part of the War on Poverty. Congress agreed to fund a pilot program from the Peace Corps budget, with additional costs covered by organizations and school boards in areas where volunteers were placed. In the summer of 1967 the first group of volunteers arrived. The program was named Volunteers to America (VTA), and Neil Boyer was designated program director. Despite the program’s low operating cost and the fact that a majority of sites at which volunteers were placed wished continue the program, Congress not only declined to fund it, but also passed a ban on similar programs being funded out of the Peace Corps budget. The program closed in 1970. The rise and fall of the VTA program provides an interesting case study in the framing of national service in the United States.

The Neil Boyer collection in American University’s Archive documents the short but rich history of the program. Boyer donated the collection to the university in 2018. It contains official documents, memos, records from State Department and Congressional Hearings; training and promotional materials; two theses; and letters between Neil Boyer and program volunteers.

Various letters, postcards, and airmail scattered on a table.

A few of the letters between Neil Boyer and VTA Volunteers.

In my two years as an Americorps member, I never heard about the VTA. Perhaps, given its short run and abrupt cancellation this is not surprising. However, as I looked through the collection, I was struck by how similar many of the program’s issues and participants’ experiences—60 years later—were to my own. The daily log (a record of day-to-day overall program activity) records volunteers with unrealistic expectations and concerns about site or project supervisors. Letters between Boyer and volunteers reflect the reality of national service, with passionate people who want to effect change trying to manage big workloads with little pay, while also struggling to reconcile the idealistic stories they had heard about America with the poverty and discrimination they found.

In the collection, there are inspiring stories of success, such as a volunteer placed in New York City working to develop and expand block organizations and help communities to communicate their needs to the city. However, there is also frustration and sacrifice. An Israeli volunteer expressed in a report the growth and insights that she gained from her position, but also her intense loneliness and concerns about the longevity of the programs she had started, because of community divisions. One volunteer joked in a letter about going to bed filled with excitement of over new ideas for teaching, but then the joy of going back to asleep the next morning since it was a snow day and she was exhausted. Several volunteers in teaching positions expressed how they been able to connect with students and teach them about their culture, but also concerns that the schools or districts they were placed with did not see them as fully qualified despite certification and previous experience in their home countries.

Cartoon of a crying hippy, reads "V.T.A. Hippie Philosophy: I love schools, it's schools systems that I can't stand."

A drawing by a volunteer about perceptions of the program and frustrations with education.

Finances were another matter of frequent concern. A volunteer’s living stipend was $200 to $300 per month paid by their placement organization or school district, which was challenge for many volunteers. One volunteer had to ask for donations when she moved into better living situation, because she could not purchase basic household items like pots and pans. They also experienced discrimination and inequality directed both toward the communities and students they worked with and towards themselves. An Argentinian volunteer was accused of being a “card-carrying communist” by a volunteer from another program and African volunteer was racially profiled by police.

These dualities of passion/pressure and ideals/reality are at the heart of national service. Peace Corps and later Americorps were founded on ideals of people helping people at a community and individual level. The words of David Busch, whose correspondence with Boyer and graduate thesis are included in the collection, describe those contradictions:

The VTA was the most daring effort to fully realize the Peace Corps’ cosmopolitan
alternative to standard development policy…[It] imagined the “community” in
community development not as a set boundary of local particularities, but as a
nexus of relations that transcended national borders. The goal of the VTA was to forge a transnational dialogue across local politics and traditions, combat notions of superiority
embedded in American post-war development thinking, and encourage cross-cultural
exchange in American communities. (Busch, 2018 pg. 671)

Though the VTA was a short-lived program, the VTA collection encapsulates the experiences, ideals, and reality of national service in the United Sates.

Continue reading →

Thomas O’Brien in Morocco

Name: Thomas O’Brien
Country of Service: Morocco
Service Type OR Service Project Title: Teacher of English and Volunteer Leader
Dates in Service: 1986-1989
Keywords: Education

Accession Date: November 11, 2019
Access: No Restrictions
Collection Size: 0.01 linear feet (located in small collections)

Document Types

  • Publications
  • Training Materials

Digital Surrogates

Finding Aid

  1. Secondary student English textbook, 1990