Pradyumna P. Karan papers

Scope and Contents

Contains correspondence, agendas and minutes, reports, and plans and proposals documenting Karan's service responsibilities at the University of Kentucky as a member of the geography department, the Japan Studies program, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the whole of the University. There are few materials about early efforts to internationalize campus or of Karan's time as department chair. Arranged into three subseries: Department of Geography, Japan Studies Program, and College of Arts&Sciences and University-Wide.

Scope and Contents

Primarily contains incoming professional correspondence, arranged into three subseries by individual, topic, or date. The correspondents represented in the three subseries do not overlap. The series also includes a subseries of curriculum vitae (CVs) of foreign academics collected by Karan. There is some overlap of these CVs with the correspondents in the individual subseries. Correspondence related to grants and publications can be found in the Professional Organizations, Conferences, and Grants Series and in the Publications Series, respectively.

Scope and Contents

Contains course syllabi, readings, lecture notes, and copies of assignments and exams documenting Karan's teaching assignments. Examples of student work are scattered throughout with significant examples related to the Japan study abroad program and the undergraduate course, GEO 160: Lands and People of the Non-Western World. Other items of note include student evaluations of Karan's teaching from the early 2000s and copies of syllabi for early classes in the graduate program in geography. Arranged into three series by subject: Administration, Undergraduate-Level Courses, and Graduate-Level Courses.

Scope and Contents

Contains publications, reviews of writings, course materials, and certificates related to geographer George Etzel Pearcy's career, including copies of writings for internal newsletters and publicity material related to his books. These papers are thought to have been given to Karan when he worked to establish the University of Kentucky G. Etzel Pearcy Fellowship in Geopolitics in the early 1990s.

Born in 1909, Pearcy graduated with his PhD in geography from Clark University in 1940. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1939 before joining Trans World Airlines to develop international air routes. In 1950, he joined the State Department, eventually serving as the Geographer of the United States from 1957 to his retirement in 1969. In retirement, he taught for three years at California State University, Los Angeles, before passing away in 1980.

Scope and Contents

Primarily contains correspondence with publishers and editors and drafts related to various scholarly publications authored or edited by Karan. Photos for some of these publications can be found in the General Photographs Series (Series X). Karan's relationship as an author with the University Press of Kentucky is well-documented in this series. The series also includes some unpublished materials and off-prints of materials not held by the University of Kentucky.

Scope and Contents

Contains secondary research materials in textual form collected by Karan throughout his career, including a significant collection of materials related to efforts to free Tibet from Chinese control and on Sikkim and Nepal in the 1960s.

Scope and Contents

Includes photos documenting life on the University of Kentucky campus and in the geography department, Karan's personal life and travels, and photos utilized in publications. Prominent holdings include a complete set of headshots for the two-volume Leaders in American Geography and photos from early County Geographical Society meetings.

Scope and Contents

Contains photos selected by Karan from his fieldwork photos (in Series XI). Karan organized these photographs into sets with Roman numerals. Within the sets, captions for the photographs included the phrase, "then and now". These photos are assumed to have been for a proposed publication on change in the Himalaya Mountain environment. There are no "Now" photos present. However, there is a folder of more recent photographs taken by geographer David Zurich. There is some overlap between this Series and the Fieldwork Photographs Series. However, this Series also includes photographs that are not present in the Fieldwork Photographs Series.

Scope and Contents

This series contains two films created from footage Karan took in Bhutan and Sikkim, A Kingdom in the Clouds: Bhutan (1965) and Where the Mountains are God: Sikkim (1968). There is no complete show print for Where the Mountains are God: Sikkim. Thus, the parts that would be utilized to make the final film are in subseries A (Show prints and completed film). Subseries B (B-roll and outtakes) comprises B-roll, outtakes, and drafts for these films. Subseries C comprises 35 mm film, while Subseries D includes audio recordings and magnetic film. In total, there are 32 cans of film: 9 reels of 800' 16mm; 4 reels of 800' 35 mm; 2 reels of 600' 16mm; 14 reels of 200' 16 mm; and 3 audio reels.