Introduction

Shortly after the partition of India in 1947, Dr. Mary O’Rourke, an educator and former student at the Salem Normal School, traveled to the newly established Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a Fulbright lecturer in 1955. The Fulbright program began in 1946 with the goal of “[promoting] international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture and science.”[1] As Pakistan began to build itself up as a nation their plan was to allocate 11% of funding to “social capital”[2] including, but not limited to education and healthcare. Creating an education system was among Pakistan’s numerous goals and the Fulbright program provided funding for students and educators like O’Rourke to assist in their efforts. Being one of the first educators to travel to the newly created and underdeveloped nation O’Rourke hoped to share her experience as an educator and contribute to the growth of this new nation during her nine month stay.

A native of the greater Boston area O’Rourke’s journey began in Boston where she then traveled on a cruise-liner halfway around the world to Karachi, Pakistan, stopping at a number of countries along the way. During her travels O’Rourke documented as much as she could, sending letters home and writing various anecdotes and details on her many maps, photos and itineraries. As can be seen throughout the collection, O’Rourke also spent a great deal of time shopping, often sending souvenirs to her family and friends back home. 

During her time as a Fulbright scholar O’Rourke’s ideas about the world in which she lived in were challenged and lead to invaluable intellectual learning. The Mary O’Rourke Procopio collection highlights the ways in which her time as a Fulbright scholar impacted those in Pakistan, influenced those at home, and changed O’Rourke herself.

[1]Fulbright Student Program. Accessed December 9, 2018. https://us.fulbrightonline.org/about.

[2] Jerome B. Cohen, “Economic Development in Pakistan,” Land Economics: A Quarterly Journal of Planning, Housing and Public Utilities 29, no. 1 (February 1953): 1-12.