(C) U.S. State Dept This story was originally published by U.S. State Dept and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Mission Microhistories [1] [] Date: 2023-07-07 Antique passports and a WWI-era letter regarding a wartime repatriation are a part of the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ collection. Photo by Lindsay Henderson By Moises Mendoza Three parallel history projects within the Department of State, each of which began as a volunteer, grassroots effort, have shown that it is possible to use history to inform policy today, honor past heroes, and improve public diplomacy efforts. Moises Mendoza’s interest in diplomatic history began during his first tour as a consular officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros. There were stories about the consulate’s history that had been passed around, but had no primary sources to back them up. Before long Mendoza was spending time doing his own research—and making discoveries—such as finding that the consulate was seven years older than originally thought, and that consuls had protected U.S. citizens during many outbreaks of violence in the city. Moises Mendoza shares documents from his research with the State Magazine team, June 6. Photo by Luis A. Jimenez Jr. The consulate was able to use primary sources, including long-forgotten photos and cables, to create useful public diplomacy tools, like brochures and presentations for the community and staff. Mendoza also developed a partnership with a local university to serve as a repository for much of the consulate’s historical information. “The tools I used to find the history of the consulate weren’t really complicated, but they were hard to find. I knew other officers might want to do the same thing, but then they’d be reinventing the wheel,” he said. Mendoza set off on a multi-year project with the Department’s Ralph J. Bunche Library and Office of the Historian to create a resource specifically for other officers who wanted to pursue microhistories while serving in overseas missions. The toolkit, which includes walkthroughs and written guidance from the Office of the Historian, the library, and the National Archives, is available to Department employees through the Office of the Historian’s new SharePoint website (internal link). Mendoza hopes that this pilot resource inspires others to tell the stories of their embassies and consulates, many of which are largely unknown. “The historical information they dig up can be deployed for myriad internal and external-facing projects,” he said. “We can be on the bleeding edge of uncovering the real histories of our Missions overseas and then using what we learn to show the deep relationships we have with our foreign partners.” Similar to Mendoza’s experience, while working in Hong Kong in 2007, Foreign Service Officer Jason Vorderstrasse became fascinated by Felix Russell Engdahl, a consul who died in a tragic accident while serving there in 1942. A grave marker for Felix Russell Engdahl, who died from a fall while in Japanese captivity, May 14, 1942, was photographed in 2008. Photo by Jason Vorderstrasse Vorderstrasse’s research eventually led to him nominating Engdahl to appear on the American Foreign Service Association’s (AFSA) memorial plaques in the Harry S Truman Building in Washington. Vorderstrasse soon found the stories of two other consuls who had died tragically. And he realized there were likely other Department employees who belonged on the wall but had never been recognized—neither the Department nor AFSA tracked their deaths prior to the creation of the first memorial plaque in 1933. Thus began a passionate multi-year effort to find the names and stories of consuls who died in the line of duty, but who had never been appropriately honored. Vorderstrasse and others formed a team that has been able to identify at least 71 previously unrecognized consuls and other employees who died abroad in the line of duty, all of whom were added to the Memorial Wall over the past few years. In 2020, Vorderstrasse was recognized with the AFSA Achievement and Contributions to the Association Award for his work. “This is a real labor of love,” Vorderstrasse said. “It’s so important for us to recognize the heroes who have made up the Foreign Service.” Vorderstrasse’s efforts are not over and he is continuing to mine old records. He believes a database of personnel cards of diplomatic officers and digitized consular despatches could be useful for those seeking to find and honor other Department employees who perished in the line of duty. Two other Department employees, Kelly Landry and Lindsay Henderson, became similarly fascinated by consular history while serving in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Washington, where they worked on an exhibit for the National Museum of American Diplomacy. A graphic welcomes visitors to the Pirates to Passports exhibit at the National Museum of Diplomacy in May 2019. Photo by Kelly Landry “We were struck that we actually knew very little about our past, but also realized what an incredible resource our history could be,” said Henderson. Landry, Henderson, and consular colleagues began compiling resources, working with the Office of the Historian and the National Archives and Records Administration and launched a range of projects. Their exhibit, called “From Pirates to Passports: A Timeless Commitment to Service,” chronicled the history of the Department’s consular service. It was displayed at the Department’s Diplomacy Center in 2019. They are now collaborating with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training to create a digital version. Landry and Henderson also launched an initiative to physically collect consular history, by buying artifacts, such as old records, that appeared online, and have cataloged important documents held in private collections. They now have extensive collections of their own, which they are digitizing for use by others. Landry and Henderson also launched a Facebook group focused on consular history that offers tips, tricks, and resources to people interested in figuring out how to research consular history. Today, Landry and Henderson are focused on creating tools for future officers and researchers to more easily explore Department history and use it to both advance U.S. foreign policy objectives and tell the story of consular history. They are also working to unearth the lives and legacies of U.S. diplomats around the world. That includes indexing a suite of thousands of consular cards—digitized files of more than 10,000 handwritten index cards, listing consular officers at posts from the 1780s to the 1960s. They also want to create a website where consular history could be “crowdsourced” with the help of researchers and members of the public. Foreign Service Officer Kelly Landry (right) gives a tour of the Pirates to Passports exhibit at the National Museum of American Diplomacy to a group of employees from the Washington Passport Agency in 2019. Photo by Lindsay Henderson “We want to create a culture shift at the Department, where history is seen as an integral part of the work the Department does,” said Henderson. “The Marine Corps has a general in charge of their history, but we’ve never had that level of focus dedicated to preserving not just the history of the work we do—but the history of the individuals who influenced events or made them happen—which is our goal.” Moises Mendoza is a special assistant at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City. [END] --- [1] Url: https://statemag.state.gov/2023/07/0723feat01/ Published and (C) by U.S. State Dept Content appears here under this condition or license: Public Domain. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/usstate/