Name: John Owen
Country of Service: Peru
Dates in Service: June 1962 – July 1964
Keywords: Education
Accession Date: October 14, 2019
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 0.01 linear feet (located in oversized map drawer)
Document Types/Finding Aid
• 5 Posters
Tom Hebert served in the Peace Corps from 1962-1964. During his service in Nigeria, he served as a business manager for the University of Ibadan’s School of Drama. In this role, he also worked as the “advance man” for the University of Ibadan’s “Theater on Wheels” cross country tour. His duties including tour logistics, promotion, and coordinating with local civic organizations. In 1964, in commemoration of William Shakespeare’s 400th birthday, the tour group organized a traveling Shakespeare festival. Actors performed selected scenes from plays such as Richard II, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Many West Africans read Shakespeare in school and in many cases throughout the tour, actors performed in front of full capacity audiences. In the city of Calabar, not even a rainstorm shortly after the start of Julius Caesar prevented the audience from enjoying the show. Shown below is a poster advertising the March 6-7, 1964 Shakespeare festival in Ibadan, Nigeria. Tom Hebert donated this item to the Peace Corps Community Archive this past summer. Many of the details in this post are taken from Hebert’s reminiscences of his Peace Corps service.
Ibadan Shakespeare Festival, March 6-7, 1964. American University Peace Corps Community Archive
Name: Tom Hebert
Country of Service: Nigeria
Place of Service: Ibadan
Service Project Title: University of Ibadan’s Shakespeare Traveling Theatre (Tour Manager)
Dates in Service: 1962-1964
Keywords: Arts
Accession Date: June 3, 2014
Access: No restrictions
Collection Size: 1 oversize item and 8 linear inches
Document Types
Finding Aid