The Fall 2011 issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter is now available online.  This issue contains an article on the ten year anniversary of the Virtual Vietnam Archive and an overview of the Center and Archive’s scheduled events for 2012.

If you would like to receive a full color printed version of this newsletter in your mailbox, please consider becoming a friend of the Vietnam Center. Membership information can be found on our Friends of the Vietnam Center webpage.

Links:

Fall 2011 Issue: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=999nl00050

Newsletter Back Issues: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/friends/newsletters.php

Membership Information: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/friends/

Douglas Eugene Pike, undated (va009049)

The finding aid, or collection inventory, for the Douglas Pike Collection: Indochina Archive is now available online.  This collection is over 234 linear feet, and primarily consists of newspaper clippings and periodicals, covering political, social, and economical issues of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), a.k.a. North Vietnam, and later the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), present day Vietnam, from 1929-2001, with the bulk being from the mid 1960s-1980s. The clippings deal with a large variety of topics, ranging from foreign relations, economy, armed forces, legal issues, ethnic groups, refugees, to reeducation.

When Professor Pike moved from Berkeley to Texas Tech in the mid-1990′s, this portion of his collection remained behind to be maintained and administered by the University of California.  In 2009 the University contacted the Vietnam Center and Archive about transferring the remainder of the collection to Texas Tech to reunite the complete Pike collection.  In late 2009 the collection was brought to Texas Tech and processed, resulting in the Indochina Archive collection.

The collection is available to researchers in the Reading Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections library during our normal business hours.  Questions about the collection can be addressed to our Reference Archivist at vietnamarchive@ttu.edu.

Link to Douglas Pike Collection: Indochina Archive – http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/resources/collections/fa.php?item=22580000000

The Vietnam Center and Archive is being featured in the library showcase of the ilovelibraries.org website.  Ilovelibraries, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA), includes an article in their November issue by VNCA Associate Director/Archivist Mary Saffell titled An Archival Memorial: Documenting the War in Vietnam. This extensive piece includes an overview of the Center and Archive and our history, some of the unique collections held by the Archive, and ways for people to keep up with news about the VNCA.  The complete article can be read online at ilovelibraries.org.

The ALA was started in 1853 with the mission to promote library service and librarianship and currently has over 66,000 members.  The ilovelibraries.org site was launched in 2007 to “keep America informed about what’s happening in today’s libraries, focusing on public, school, corporate and institutional settings.”

Read Online: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/content/archival-memorial-documenting-war-vietnam

Today is the U.S. Marines 236th Birthday and the staff of the Vietnam Center and Archive wish to say Happy Birthday and thank you Marines for your service.  We have created a small exhibit of Marine items from our collection to celebrate this day.  To see the exhibit, click on the link below.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/marines/marines11.htm

Today is the Navy’s 236th birthday!  The Vietnam Center and Archive staff want to wish the Navy and all of its personnel past and present a very happy birthday.  To comemorate this day, we have created a small exhibit of Navy items.  You can view the exhibit by clicking on the link below.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/navy/navy11.htm

Today is the Air Force’s 64th birthday, and the staff of the Vietnam Center & Archive want to wish the Air Force a very Happy Birthday!  We have created a small exhibit of Air Force related materials from our collection to celebrate.  You can click here to view the exhibit, or use the link at the bottom of this post.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/airforce/airforce11.htm

Today the U. S. Coast Guard turns 221.  To honor the Coast Guard and celebrate their birthday, we have created a small exhibit of Coast Guard materials from our collection.  The Vietnam Center and Archive staff would like to say thank you to all of the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard for all that they do.  Click on the link below to see the exhibit.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/coastguard/coastguard11.htm

Happy Independence Day from the Vietnam Center and Archive, and thank you to all of those who have worked to preserve our freedom!

US Navy In-shore Patrol Craft on the Bo De River, Republic of Vietnam (undated) [permalink]

Y Bham Enuol was a Rhade’ leader and founder of FULRO. He fought for Montagnard rights in Vietnam and Cambodia and was executed by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge in 1975. He is shown here smoking a hand-carved pipe.

The Vietnam Center and Archive is pleased to announce two new exhibits on the Texas Tech Campus:

The Montagnards of Vietnam exhibit is located in the Cornelli Globe Rotunda of the Special Collections Library and will be on display through the remainder of 2011.  The Montagnards are an indigenous people native to the Central Highlands of Vietnam and are ethnically distinct from the Vietnamese.  During the Vietnam War many of the Montagnards fought alongside the Americans, particularly with US Special Forces.  This exhibit displays many unique artifacts of Montagnard culture and focuses on the collection of anthropologist Dr. Gerald Hickey.

The Vietnam Center and Archive exhibit is located in the Student Union Building behind the Allen Theatre, and will be on display through July 14th.  This exhibit features  a variety of items from the Archive’s collections, representing a small sampling of the selection of resources available through the Center and Archive.

We hope that if you are on campus you will be able to take a moment to see these great exhibits.

Oral historian Jason Stewart will be leaving the Vietnam Archive on July 15, 2011, to pursue a teaching career in Mississippi. Jason has been with us for nearly three years, and we will certainly miss his hard work and devotion to the mission of the archive. Jason has been a strong advocate for America’s Vietnam veterans, and we greatly appreciate all he has done to help record their history. Please join us in wishing Jason and his family the absolute best in this transition and in all their future endeavors.