Scope and Contents

There are approximately 4.5 linear feet in Unit 13. Major topics or events in Vietnamese history organize the unit. These include, but are not limited to the involvement of foreign powers in Vietnam, the Second World War, Dien Bien Phu, and the Geneva Conference. The history of the Indochinese Communist Party is a particularly lengthy section. Most of the material housed in the collection falls within the period of 1875 to 1954. Materials are generally arranged chronologically by the date the event in discussion occurred. Some anomalies result when a document addresses a lengthy timespan. When a single date is difficult to ascertain, the date of publication is used instead. Unit 13, The Early History of Vietnam, attempts to trace Vietnam's past from prehistoric times to 1954. Materials related to the Geneva Convention of 1954 conclude the chronological scope of Unit 13. Some pamphlets and government documents intersperse the bulk of the unit, which is composed mainly by book fragments, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles. The documentary support for The Pentagon Papers is a significant part of the unit's composition.

Biographical / Historical

Professor Douglas Pike was born in 1925. He served as a journalist in the US Army during World War II (in the Pacific Theater of Operations) and during the Korean Conflict. He earned degrees from the University of California-Berkeley and American University. He served as a Foreign Service Officer in Taiwan, Korea, Lebanon, and Vietnam. In 1982 he began teaching at UC-Berkeley and in 1997 moved to Texas Tech University. Professor Pike housed and supported the collection until 1982 when he moved it to Berkeley. It remained there until 1992 when Berkeley considered discontinuing its support for the Indo-China Studies Project. After being approached by Professor Pike, Dr. James Reckner, Director of the Vietnam Center at Tech, and Dr. David Murrah, Assistant Director of Libraries for the Special Collections, worked together to bring the Collection to the Archive in 1994.

Series

• Series - Vietnamese Archaeology
• Series - Pre-Modern Vietnam
• Series - Chinese Involvement
• Series - French Involvement
• Series - Colonialism/Anti-Colonialism
• Series - Independence Movements
• Series - Indochinese Communist Party
• Series - World War II
• Series - Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
• Series - Post World War II
• Series - Dien Bien Phu
• Series - Geneva Conference
• Series - US Involvement
• Series - Culture
• Series - Land Reform
• Series - Refugees
• Series - Overviews
• Series - Miscellaneous