Joel M. Halpern (#95)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers, 1957-1991
In the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
List of Series
Description


Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1957-1991
Educator, anthropologist. Field Officer, Community Development, International Cooperation Agency, Luang Prabang, Laos (1957); assistant professor of anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles (1958-1963); consultant, RAND Corporation (1959-1961); associate professor (1963-1969), professor (1969-1991) University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Books, brochures, correspondence, field notes, slides and photographs on Laos and Southeast Asia.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
According to the deed of gift signed October 1991, copyright of these materials has been retained by the Donor. Upon the death of the Donor, all said rights shall pass to the United States. Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

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 The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form.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
Received from Joel Halpern of Northampton, MA, in June 1991 (Acc. 1992-018); in January 1992 (Acc. 1992-019); in February 1992 (Acc. 1992-031); in August 1992 (Acc. 1992-065); in July 1996 (Acc. 1996-037); in August 1996 (Acc. 1996-040); and in March 2000 (Acc. 2000-064).

Extent
About 34,000 items (66 linear feet ; 76.0 cubic feet)

Date Opened
September 2000.

Processed by
Stephen Plotkin

Encoded by
James M. Roth

The Personal Papers of Joel M. Halpern (1929- )

Biographical Note
Joel Martin Halpern was born on April 8, 1929 in New York City. He received a B.A. degree in History from the University of Michigan in 1950 and earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1956 at Columbia University. From 1956-58 he served as a Field Service Officer (Foreign Service Reserve) with the Community Development Division of the U.S. International Cooperation Administration’s aid program (USOM) to Laos. In 1958 he became an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and in 1963 an associate professor at Brandeis University. In 1959 he returned to Laos to research Lao elites as a consultant to the Rand Corporation. Subsequently he was a research associate at the Harvard University Russian Research Center, 1965-67. He joined the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an associate professor, became a full professor of in 1969, and retired from the University of Massachusetts in 1992. From 1966-70 he was member and then chair of the Mekong Seminar of the Southeast Asia Development Advisory Group (SEADAG) of the Asia Society, which advised the U.S. aid program concerned with development of dams and power generation on the Mekong River. In 1969 he again returned to Laos under SEADAG sponsorship to examine the impact of Mekong dam projects sponsored by the Mekong Committee of ECAFE of the United Nations. Halpern has been a visiting professor at the University of Freiburg, Germany and at the University of Graz, Austria where he is a professorial associate of the Southeast European Institute. He has also held a visiting professorship at the Arnold Bergstrasser Institute of the Albert - Ludwigs - Universität, Freiburg, Germany, from 1970 to 1971. He has been the editor and organizer of the Laos Project Papers and has published two monographs on Laos with the Southeast Asia Program at Yale University, Government, Politics and Social Structure in Laos, A Study of Tradition and Innovation and Economy and Society of Laos. He has also co-edited a book on Indochinese students in the U.S., The Far East Comes Near (University of Massachusetts Press). Since1956 he has served as contributing author and editorial advisor to the numerous editions of Laos, A Country Study. In accordance with his interest in visual anthropology, Halpern has taught courses on culture and film, exhibited his own photographs, and prepared documentary films, including an uncompleted one on Laos. Halpern is married to the former Barbara Kerewsky, with whom he has three children.

Collection Overview
The Joel Halpern collection consists of his academic research on Laos and Southeast Asia.

List of Series

Collection Description

Series 1. Subject Files.

Series 2. Writings.
Boxes 60-66.
Arrangement: by type of material.

This series consists of writings by Joel Halpern and others.
  

Series 3. Joel Halpern Field Notes.
[PERMISSION REQUIRED]
Boxes 67-69.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.

This series consists of Joel Halpern’s field notes. Permission is required to access.
  

Series 4. Maps.
Boxes 70-71.
Arrangement: unarranged.

This series consists of maps of Southeast Asian countries, including Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.