Call Number:

MC226

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers

Extent:

2 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Owen W. and Janet K. Roberts Papers, Box and Folder Number; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1955-1991 (inclusive)

Creator:

Roberts, Owen W.

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

The Owen W. and Janet K. Roberts Papers document the Roberts' time in Cairo, the Congo and Nigeria while Owen Roberts was a member of the Foreign Service.

Owen W. Roberts was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 1924. He served in the United States Army from 1943-1946 and graduated from Princeton University (A.B., 1948) and from Columbia University (M.A., 1952; Ph.D., 1955). In 1955 he entered the Foreign Service as consular officer in Cairo and was commercial officer in Leopoldville in 1958-1960. In the Department he was desk officer for Africa in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1961-1962) and in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (1963-1964). He was political officer in Lagos from 1964-1965, and deputy chief of mission in Ouagadougou from 1966-1968. He attended the Air War College from 1969 to 1970. In the Department he was staff director of the Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service (1970-1971), Deputy Director for Cultural Affairs for Africa (1971-1972), a member of the policy planning staff (1973), and Executive Director of the Office of Inspector General (1974-1975). From 1976-1978, he was Deputy Director of the Sinai Field Mission, Sinai Desert. He was Director of the African Office at the Department of Defense (on detail) from 1978-1979, and deputy chief of mission in Addis Ababa from 1979-1982. In 1983 he served as African adviser at the United Nations General Assembly. From 1982-1984, he was roving Charge in Victoria, Banjul, and then N'Djamena. In May 1984 Roberts was appointed Ambassador to the Republic of Togo, and held that post through September 1986. Owens retired in 1989.

Biography of Janet K. Roberts

Janet Read Kiehel Roberts was born in Philadelphia in 1926. She attended Vassar College, graduating in 1947 with a focus on creative writing and social anthropology. She married Owen Roberts in 1949.

The Owen W. and Janet K. Roberts Papers document the Roberts' time in Cairo, the Congo and Nigeria while Owen Roberts was a member of the Foreign Service. The papers consist of nearly two hundred original letters written between 1955 and 1957, describing the Roberts' life in Cairo, as well as transcriptions of a majority of the Cairo letters, bound and titled "Letters from Cairo, 1955-1957." The Roberts Papers also include bound transcripts of letters from Roberts' Foreign Service in Africa, entitled, "Letters from the Congo, 1958-1960," and "Letters from Nigeria, 1964-1966," as well as "Letters from Jerusalem and the Sinai, 1976-1978." In addition, the bound transcripts contain Owen Roberts' remarks on the Congo and Nigeria for Georgetown University's Oral Diplomatic History program in 1991.