KPV Collection & PC Memories:
Project information and story
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Click the orange button below to stop/play our narrated introduction and story of the KPV Collection & PC Memories.
Also, scroll down for the text version of the story.
Also, scroll down for the text version of the story.
Kit Porter Van Meter, better known as Kit (as the islanders would say), did not begin with this website. She began with over 100 boxes of documents, books, letters, audio tapes, slides, & handicraft related to the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) & Micronesia, all of which eventually came to be called the KPV Collection. Her Peace Corps Volunteer content related to her living on the island of Rota, NMI from 1967 to 1969. All of this had, for many years, been in her parents’ attic. Another portion came from when the NMI became a US Commonwealth (CNMI) and she was asked to establish the Chamorro and Carolinian Bilingual Bicultural programs and later Northern Marianas College (1975 to 1983). These boxes were shipped to her in Massachusetts by mistake instead of being donated to NMC as planned. The final portion of these materials were primarily purchased from Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Publishing & Pacificana Books when they closed.
In 2014, she wanted to ship it all to the CNMI, but they wanted to know what she had and were justifiably worried about future typhoon damage -- category 5 typhoon Yutu devastated the CNMI in October 2018. In 2015, the Director of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council (NMHC) visited and advised her not to throw anything away. In 2015 & 2019 the NMHC funded grants that partially provided for assistance in arranging, inventorying and digitizing box content; that work continues.
Kit realized how precious the content was when an islander reminded her that likely none of the islanders had cameras or audio recorders when she lived on Rota and even if they had, it would not have survived 50 years of storms, insects and heat. Her assistant convinced her that she could have a database and website to showcase the digitized content. He designed systems and found services that were easy to use, inexpensive and interactive, eventually using Google Drive, Weebly, Airtable, and Flickr.
Since starting the website, other NMI RPCVs & staff have added their digitized photos, videos, stories & documents (almost 2,500 items). The first volunteers arrived in the NMI in 1966 and almost all are part of Peace Corps First Decade--PC celebrates 60 years in 2021. Their contributions to the website are arranged by the contributing PCV's name with viewers helping to caption photos (via Flickr) so they can be searched. They have worked together on special stories such as:
The website has grown and accommodated new content. Now we seek to further involve people, groups and organizations in the CNMI in collaborating on content and stories. We also seek ways to have the website continue and/or have the content (partial or all) incorporated into existing entities such as Northern Marianas Humanities Council, CNMI libraries, Northern Marianas Archives/Northern Marianas College, and/or Museum of the Peace Corps Experience.
The continuing goal of this site is to:
Historically, the Marianas have been: colonized by four countries, visited by whaling ships, the location of fierce battles during WWII, devastated by super-typhoons and home to the Chamorro and Carolinian people. If you want more information about this part of the world, please check our Brief Historical Timeline.
In 2014, she wanted to ship it all to the CNMI, but they wanted to know what she had and were justifiably worried about future typhoon damage -- category 5 typhoon Yutu devastated the CNMI in October 2018. In 2015, the Director of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council (NMHC) visited and advised her not to throw anything away. In 2015 & 2019 the NMHC funded grants that partially provided for assistance in arranging, inventorying and digitizing box content; that work continues.
Kit realized how precious the content was when an islander reminded her that likely none of the islanders had cameras or audio recorders when she lived on Rota and even if they had, it would not have survived 50 years of storms, insects and heat. Her assistant convinced her that she could have a database and website to showcase the digitized content. He designed systems and found services that were easy to use, inexpensive and interactive, eventually using Google Drive, Weebly, Airtable, and Flickr.
Since starting the website, other NMI RPCVs & staff have added their digitized photos, videos, stories & documents (almost 2,500 items). The first volunteers arrived in the NMI in 1966 and almost all are part of Peace Corps First Decade--PC celebrates 60 years in 2021. Their contributions to the website are arranged by the contributing PCV's name with viewers helping to caption photos (via Flickr) so they can be searched. They have worked together on special stories such as:
The website has grown and accommodated new content. Now we seek to further involve people, groups and organizations in the CNMI in collaborating on content and stories. We also seek ways to have the website continue and/or have the content (partial or all) incorporated into existing entities such as Northern Marianas Humanities Council, CNMI libraries, Northern Marianas Archives/Northern Marianas College, and/or Museum of the Peace Corps Experience.
The continuing goal of this site is to:
- organize and preserve all collected materials so they are not lost to time;
- ensure all collection content can be shared with the people of NMI and Micronesia, and the general public;
- enable storytellers to use collection content easily and allow the crafting of stories using digitized documents, photographs and audio,
- pass a view of the history, heritage, cultures, languages, events and activities from the 1960s, 70s & 80s to current and future generations.
Historically, the Marianas have been: colonized by four countries, visited by whaling ships, the location of fierce battles during WWII, devastated by super-typhoons and home to the Chamorro and Carolinian people. If you want more information about this part of the world, please check our Brief Historical Timeline.