Thanks & Credits

Navigation: Click on one of the links below or in the text to view the corresponding website.

Bucknell University

California Luthern University

Asia Network

Freeman Foundation

University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Sisters Tours

Although driven by the desire of David Del Testa to see it come into being, many, many people and institutions should receive heartfelt thanks for its existence. In many places in this list, readers can click on a hyperlink to learn more information about individual people and places who supported the creation of this website and the various components that make it up.

Ultimately, two individuals share top honors for the Beaucarnot Diary Web Site: Ms. Claudie Beaucarnot, the diary’s author and source of a great deal of personal insight into the world from which the diary emanates, and Mr. Houghton “Buck” Freeman and the Freeman Foundation he has sponsored so generously.

From the moment David Del Testa contacted her, Ms. Beaucarnot has shown nothing but support to help make the history of French colonial Indochina, bad and good, come alive with the help of her diary. She and her daughters received David Del Testa, a complete stranger, into their home, and her life became an open book for the American with endless questions. Hopefully he has lived up to her trust and has realized the potential of the Diary in a way she finds pleasing.

The whole American academic community should thank Mr. Freeman and his generous sponsorship of programs, especially undergraduate programs, to permit better understanding of Asia by Americans. His sponsorship of the Faculty-Student Undergraduate Field Research Grants through the AsiaNetwork made the important part of this endeavor, the involvement of undergraduates discovering and reporting on history, possible.

Several institutions underwrote or facilitated the research and travel that allowed the diary to come to light and become available to a wider audience and for use as a teaching tool:

• David Del Testa unearthed the diary and began the journey that culminated in this website while presenting his dissertation research at the Archives d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence with the support of a Dissertation Presentation Award sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley Institute for European Studies.
• The generous monetary and moral support of California Lutheran University, where David Del Testa worked as a tenure-track assistant professor of history from 2001 – 2004, provided the critical resources necessary to develop this project. Two Hewlett Faculty Improvement Program Grants and some individual support from the University’s Provost and the Dean of the College of Letters ad Sciences underwrote the initial and follow-up interviews of Ms. Beaucarnot. California Lutheran University was a great place to work and learn, and the broad support of its students, staff, and faculty will never be forgotten. David Del Testa in particular wishes to thank Dr. Michael Brint, Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences; Ms. Randy Toland, the administrative assistant of L&S; Dr. Paul Hanson, Chair of the Department of History; Dr. Kevin Schaffels, Ms. Nancy Perkins and Ms. Lorraine Ray of the CLU Business Office for their patience and assistance; Dr. Michael Hengst of the Department of Multimedia and Mr. David Grannis, Director of Educational Technology for the CLU Center for Teaching and Learning for their help with the video and audio equipment related to this project; and Ms. Kathy Horneck, the head of the Pearson Library Interlibrary Loan Department, who patiently acquired so much of the documentation the CLU students and David Del Testa used in support of this project
• The AsiaNetwork, an excellent organization dedicated to enhancing education about Asia in liberal arts colleges and universities, provided the intellectual and pedagogical framework to create the Freeman Faculty-Student Research Awards. Without the forward-looking leadership of scholars such as Executive Director Dr. Van Symons of Augustana College, Dr. Teddy Amaloza of Illinois Wesleyan University, and Dr. Paul Watt of DePauw University, Mr. Freeman would have had one fewer channel for his support of undergraduate exchange with Asia. The Luce Foundation of New York, among others, deserves thanks for their support of the AsiaNetwork.
• The sponsors of the AsiaNetwork research team in Vietnam, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, went to great lengths to facilitate the progress of the Asia Network student-faculty research team while they worked in Vietnam. Previous experience there, especially with Rector the Prof. Dr: Pham Xuan Hang, Director of International Relations Dr. Vu Van Thi and his assistant Mr. Minh certainly made the journey positive and fruitful.
• David Del Testa’s current employer, Bucknell University of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, has provided superior support, especially since Bucknell’s staff agreed to support a project that began at a different university. In particular, the whole of the university’s ISR (Information Services and Resources) deserves unending praise. The high quality of this web site is due entirely to the skills and creativity of Instructional Technologist Mr. Michael Weaver and his student assistant James Rickard. Librarian Ms. Abby Clobridge, the History Department’s library liaison, has also made incalculably valuable contributions to this project by helping coordinate the not insignificant amount of information related to this project and helping David Del Testa with the details of the project (copyright, format, etc.) and maintain a good attitude. Her student assistants Andrew Martin and Joey Smith also provided excellent support to this project. David Del Testa also thanks the Bucknell College of Arts and Sciences with providing him with an International Travel Grant to conduct additional interviews of Ms. Beaucarnot during Summer 2005.

Together, these people and their institutions made the finding of the diary, its exploitation and enhancement, and its publication possible and relatively easy.

In addition to the larger institutions, a certain number of individuals have provided help graciously developing and expanding the diary and its potential. These people include:

• Drs. Penny Edwards of Australian National University, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Dr. Panivong Norindr of the University of Southern California , Department of Comparative Literature, Dr. Erica Peters of the University of Maryland, and Dr. Françoise Vergès all read the diary and made valuable comments on its value as scholarship;
• Dr. Lise-Hélène Trouilloud of the University of California at Davis Department of Comparative Literature helpfully read and partially corrected and early English translation of the Dairy;
• Mr. Rasheed Uhlaq of Sheen Travel, West Los Angeles, provided the CLU student travelers and David Del Testa with high quality, affordable travel service (and some much appreciated ‘emergency’ service);
• Ms. Le To Diep of Sisters Tours in Hanoi, Vietnam provided excellent travel support for the students and David Del Testa while the group was in Vietnam; the staff of the Hotel Polonez provided a home away from home in Hanoi; and Mr. Tran Long helped the project in many ways that no other individual could have done.
• At California Lutheran University, everyone in Team Indochine appreciated the support of Pastor Gerry Swanson. While in Vietnam, the group always felt his presence even though unfortunately he could not travel with us.

In terms of other individuals, the students of History 482 will never forget the insight the heartfelt interviews Mr. Jean-Jacques Maitam, author of House Divided, and Duong Mai Elliott, author of Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family, gave them in December 2002; the enthusiasm of the various students who helped this project along beyond the members of the Away Team – Amber Hart and Stephanie Albee the original translators and Pamela Farias the fact-checker in particular – obviously made this project a real possibility.

Candice Hinckley of the Bucknell University Bertrand Library Interlibrary Loan Department and Joyce Ryerson of the Dartmouth University Library’s Evans Map Room found valuable resources in support of the production of this website, particularly maps. Mr. Ray Kaycon in the Bucknell University architects’ office helped this effort by producing large-format scans of printed maps.

Finally, the students of the Away Team – Michael Barker, Brusta Brown, and Ryan Mayfield – must receive a great deal of credit for their hard work, patience, and interest in this project. It’s too bad that the fourth potential Away Team member, Mr. Brian Weinberger, could not join the group in Vietnam. David Del Testa’s spouse Melissa also deserves a great deal of credit for her patience, calm, and insightfulness in addition to her love and support.

All of these individuals should be considered part of ‘Team Indochine’ and all of them have made important contributions to the completion of this project.

Happy viewing!

David Del Testa