An Inventory of Interviews
At the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration
Administrative Information
Historical Note
Collection Overview
List of Countries
Oral History Descriptions
Abstract
Oral History Interviews, 1961-
Donations by private individuals documenting personal experiences while serving in the Peace Corps.
Access
Open.
Usage Restrictions
Consult with archivist to determine copyright holder.
Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excesses of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form. Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.
Provenance
Consult with archivist to determine individual provenance of each donation.
Extent
About 100 items.
Date Opened
December 2001.
Last Update
April 2005.
May 2006.
Processed by
James M. Roth
Michael Desmond
Jaimie Quaglino
Encoded by
James M. Roth
Michael Desmond
Related Collections
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection, Personal Papers
Records of U.S. Peace Corps
John F. Kennedy President's Office Files
John F. Kennedy White House Central Subject File
Personal Papers of R. Sargent Shriver
Personal Papers of William Josephson
William Josephson Oral History Interview
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
The oral history interviews of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) constitute an artificial collection that was created when archivists at the John F. Kennedy Library began soliciting materials from RPCVs in 1989. Individual RPCVs have, over the course of time, donated interviews concerning their personal experience in one of the more than seventy different countries where Peace Corps volunteers were—and still are today—active on tour of duty.
Each donor has signed a separate deed of gift, so there is no general copyright rule that applies to the entire collection. For information about individual copyright, researchers who wish to publish from these materials are asked to check with the reference archivist.
This collection has a unique organization because it is an artificial collection that is even now being expanded; additional materials still come in on a regular basis. Because the available materials have arrived separately, the collection was processed in larger portions at a time, which were then attached to the initial collection as appendices.
While the physical collection remains unchanged, a 2001 makeover of the finding aid was designed to incorporate these appendices into the main body of the finding aid, rather than maintaining them as separate increments. The finding aid now begins with a section called "General," which points the researcher to information about the Peace Corps that is not related to any country in particular. Then the finding aid is arranged by country, date of service, and finally by the donors’ last names in alphabetical order.