The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

16 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL SITE OF THE MONTH: State Department Office of the Historian T he State Department’s Office of the Historian (http:// history.state.gov) is digitizing its multivolume series Foreign Relations of the United States . Each volume in the series is a huge collection of U.S. government foreign affairs documents. These volumes “present the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.” The series covers events beginning in 1861. Today there are 450 individual volumes, with 11 planned for release in 2015. As of May, 240 of the volumes were available online through the website. Users may conduct full text searches by both topic and presidential administration. The digitization project should be complete by 2018. Volumes covering the last 65 years (164) are also available to download as ebooks. The most recent online release of a FRUS volume relates to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and captures a collection of notes and letters from citi- zens and foreign governments around the world respond- ing to his death on April 14, 1865. The volumes offer diplomats, scholars and the public unprecedented access to fascinating unclassified and declassified primary source materials tracing the history of the United States’ international engagement. Another terrific resource is a database that lists past principal officers and chiefs of mission and records of the travels of presidents and Secretaries of State. Country profiles include detailed histories of American diplomatic relations with each, and the site also facilitates access to the diplomatic records of these nations where possible. A unique tool for public education at home and abroad, the website has abundant resources for students and teachers. The ebook versions of the FRUS series are avail- able free of charge, and the Historian’s Office also creates curriculum supplements for teaching middle and high school students about diplomacy. Run by Department of State Historian Dr. Stephen Randolph and a team of professional historians, the Historian’s Office is responsible for conducting research for officials from the State Department and other agen- cies, evaluating historical lessons and providing the background information necessary to make today’s key foreign relations decisions. —Editorial Intern Shannon Mizzi and Editor Shawn Dorman shelter. It airlifted 700 rolls of heavy-duty plastic sheeting to benefit an estimated 7,000 households, or up to 35,000 people. The International Organization for Migra- tion, a USAID/OFDA partner, distributed the plastic sheeting along with other supplies such as rope, wire and basic hand tools. Search-and-rescue teams coordinated efforts with the government of Nepal and other international USDAR teams to conduct initial damage assessments. They worked with canine rescue units to search for survivors in the rubble of col- lapsed buildings. According to an April 29 Time article covering USAID responders in Nepal, th e dogs are trained to track the scent of liv- ing people in ‘high-probability’ locations. In addition, USAID/OFDA contrib- uted $10 million in humanitarian assis- tance to address earthquake response and recovery efforts. USAID’s Office of Food for Peace contributed $2.5 mil- lion to the operation for the purchase of 1,390 metric tons of rice in support of the United Nations World Food Program’s efforts to distribute provisions in the area. “We’re mobilizing emergency shelter for about 35,000 people,” said Director of USAID/OFDA Jeremy Konyndyk in an April 27 interview with MSNBC. “We’re working with those search-and-rescue teams and we’re also talking with the U.S. military about what assets we might be able to bring in.” For donations and to learn the best ways to help the relief efforts, USAID (www.usaid.gov/nepal-earthquake ) has posted a full list of organizations provided by the Center for International Disaster Information (www.cidi.org/ nepal). Monetary donations to any of these organizations are encouraged. For most immediate updates, visit the USAID website (www.USAID.gov ) or Twitter page (www.twitter.com/usaid ). n —Brittany DeLong, Assistant Editor