May 12, 2025 – May 30, 2025
Allen Library North Lobby
In 2013 the UW Libraries purchased an extensive collection of books, photographs, office files and ephemera curated by a civilian official in the US Embassy in Saigon, Robert Jones III. Reportedly the longest-serving US official in Vietnam, Jones was an avid book collector who had fallen in love with Vietnam, spoke its language fluently, and dedicated his life to promoting understanding of the country. Although Jones’ official papers reflect the centrality of his contributions to the US war effort, the importance of his collection lies not so much in what it tells us about that effort, but in the extensive range of historical, cultural and literary texts that provide a glimpse into the social milieu of war-time Saigon. The collection tells us what books were circulating freely on the streets of Saigon, and what literary and historical texts influenced society at this critical time of war and dislocation in Vietnam. The historical materials that Jones collected from the French colonial period in Vietnam, and the contemporary publications he continued to collect from the diasporic communities in the US after his return, show the continuities of these cultural worlds across time and geography. In 2024 MLIS student Cari Coe used materials from the collection for a project titled Bringing Southeast Asian archives to life.
