Welcome to the Archives of the American Field Service and
AFS Intercultural Programs
The Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs (AFS Archives) is the repository for material related to the history and development of the organization that is now referred to as AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc.
AFS Intercultural Programs began as the American Field Service (AFS), which had its origins in 1914 shortly after the outbreak of World War I, when young Americans living in Paris volunteered as ambulance drivers at the American Hospital of Paris. AFS participated in every major French battle and carried more than 500,000 wounded during World War I. By the end of the war, 2,500 men had served in the American Field Service with the French Armies.
For more information about the transition of AFS from an ambulance and camion service in World War I to the present-day international student exchange programs, please see the descriptions of our archival collections.
News from the Archives
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AFS-Led Exhibition is the Focus of a Smithsonian Institution Meeting
AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. is partnering with the National World War I Museum and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History to mount an exhibition...
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Notizie da Irene: A “Taste” of an AFS Experience
My belief in the key role of food in the exchange of cultures is shown through the many photographs of students and families from all over the world pictured...
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Photographs in the AFS Archives: Arthur J. Putnam Collection
In my internship at the AFS Archives this spring I have been arranging and describing the personal papers of AFS ambulance and camion drivers during World War I...
