Vietnam Archive Awarded More Than $48,000 to Process Records of Vietnamese Political Prisoners
July 13, 2006
Written by Michael Castellon
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 13, 2006
CONTACT: Michael Castellon, m.castellon@ttu.edu
LUBBOCK – The preservation and processing of records related to thousands of Vietnamese
political prisoners will become a top priority of the Texas Tech University Vietnam
Center Archive, thanks in part to a grant of $48,565, awarded to the center by the
National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
For 20 years, the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association maintained
detailed paper records on at least 10,000 Vietnamese prisoners and refugees. The documents
outline their immigration and resettlement in the United States.
Last year, the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation donated a 135-linear- foot
collection of paper documents collected by the FVPPA to the archive. The documents
are in critical need of preservation and organization.
“Our goal is to preserve and manage these documents in a way so they will always be
available to Vietnamese Americans and their families, researchers, educators and students,”
said Stephen Maxner, deputy director of the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University.
“This will allow us to be one of the nation’s flagship organizations with documents
related to Vietnamese political prisoners and refugees. By providing archival preservation
and access to the records of the FVPPA, this project will significantly advance the
study of the Vietnamese immigration experience.”
The FVPPA was founded in 1977 in Arlington, Virginia. The organization worked toward
the release of re-education camp detainees in Vietnam and assisted applicants for
the Orderly Departure Program, a program created to stem illegal and
dangerous departures from Vietnam. The FVPPA also provided resettlement
support for recent Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S. and lobbied Congress and corresponded
with other government officials on behalf of Vietnamese immigrants and refugees.
For more information visit: http://vietnam.ttu.edu/
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CONTACT: Stephen Maxner, deputy director of the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University,
(806) 742-9010 or steve.maxner@ttu.edu