Smithsonian-Peace Corps Environmental Program Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Note:
This series includes contracts and contract-related and miscellaneous correspondence, equipment records, and personnel files. The 68 contract files include agreements
between the Peace Corps and the Smithsonian Institution as well as those between the SI-PCEP and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Department of Interior's National Park
Service, and the National Wildlife Fund. In general the Peace Corps-Smithsonian Institution contract files contain correspondence, progress reports, and the contracts themselves.
Other items included, especially in the more recent files, are financial and budget statements, recruitment reports, and trip reports.
The contract correspondence files contain mostly SI-PCEP outgoing letter carbons and Peace Corps-Smithsonian Institution program memoranda about contract renewals. The
vast majority of miscellaneous correspondence concerns Peace Corps volunteers' requests for reference materials handled by Dona Menella, librarian. Press releases announcing
the new co-operative program and letters informing participants of its discontinuance are included, in addition to correspondence covering financial resources, program policy
and functions, and activities of the SI-PCEP. SI-PCEP correspondents include Dona Menella, Larry Ritter, and James Sherburne. These are also the principal correspondents in
the contract correspondence files, in addition to Barry Christenson, Jeffrey Vonk, and Barbara Snodgrass.
Equipment and personnel records are also included; the latter contain mostly personnel action forms and/or curriculum vitae.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 264, Smithsonian-Peace Corps Environmental Program, Records
Smithsonian-Peace Corps Environmental Program Search this
Extent:
19.5 cu. ft. (39 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1970-1979
Descriptive Entry:
The SI-PCEP records fall into two main areas: Those about the program in general and those about the various environmental projects. The administrative records provide
a broad understanding of the scope of SI-PCEP, especially as revealed through the contract files. These administrative records document the creation and continued efforts
to expand the funding and impact of the program. In addition, SI-PCEP is well documented through publications generated by the program, including recruiting leaflets, training
manuals, skills available booklets, and published articles. The individual projects are documented in the correspondence of program administrators Robert K. Poole, 1970-1975,
and James A. Sherburne, 1975-1978, with host countries and host agencies, and the correspondence of individual volunteers and their project reports. Contracts, in addition
to those between the Smithsonian Institution and the Peace Corps, include those sought for technical support of projects from the National Park Service, National Wildlife
Fund, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Historical Note:
In 1970 the Smithsonian Institution contracted with the Peace Corps to assist it in establishing an international environmental program, the Smithsonian Institution-Peace
Corps Environmental Program (SI-PCEP). The program helped the Peace Corps to develop conservation, biological, and ecological projects in natural resource fields with principal
focus on wildlife conservation and national park development. Through the Office of Environmental Sciences (later the Office of International and Environmental Programs),
SI-PCEP recruited and placed qualified Peace Corps volunteers with advanced degrees and/or specialized skills, assisted in establishing training programs, and provided information
and technical and scientific support to volunteers in the field.
