Contents and Arrangement Collection View
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Content Description

The Robert Finn Papers consist of writings, drafts, speeches, photographs, and a number of audiovisual materials related to Ambassador Finn's career as a diplomat, translator, and Princeton lecturer. The collection documents Finn's Foreign Service career in Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Additionally there is a significant amout of materials related to Finn's career as a translator of Turkish fiction and poetry, as well as appointment books, speeches and talks, and some commemorative plaques, certificates, and awards.

Collection Creator Biography:

Finn

Robert Finn is a an American diplomat, a lecturer in Turkish Studies and International Relations, and a translator of Turkish fiction and poetry. Finn studied at St. John's University and New York University before earning a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University in 1978. Beginning as a Foreign Service member in 1978, Finn served in Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. He was the first ambassador to Afghanistan in over 20 years when he assumed the office in 2002. He served in Afghanistan until 2004, and retired from the Foreign Service in 2005.

Acquisition:

The collection was donated by Robert Finn in 2020. The accession number associated with this donation is ML-2020-06.

Appraisal

Some personal items and duplicate photographs were separated from the collection and returned to the donor.

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Will Clements in November, 2021. Most of the collection was housed in archival folders, physically arranged, and organized into series. Optical media containing videos, photographs, and other documents were processed according to born digital workflows, and physical media was discarded.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use, except for five folders in Box 2 (Foreign Service Employee Evaluation Reports and Application for Retirement) which are restricted during the lifetime of the donor due to the presence of personally identifiable information.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to The Trustees of Princeton University and researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of donor-created materials within the collection. For materials in the collection not created by the donor, or where the material is not an original, the copyright is likely not held by the University. In these instances, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Robert Finn Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dcth83m815z
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-7