The Catherine Perdunn Papers document the early and late life of Catherine (Berger) Perdunn from her birth in 1909 to 1964. Included are Perdunn's baby book, which contains pasted photographs and notes about her childhood in addition to family photographs and a small New York Religious Tract Society publication from the early 19th century; high school commencement program and invitation in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1927; one typewritten and one handwritten diary that date from 1962 to 1964; and ephemera from the Peace Corps; teaching and Peace Corps certificates. Perdunn recorded her Peace Corps training experience in her typewritten diary from May to August 1962 at the University of Maryland and her Peace Corps operation service in British Honduras from August 1962 to June 1964. She also gave a speech to a Rotary Club in 1964 that detailed her experience in the Peace Corps.

Catherine Berger Perdunn was born on September 9, 1909.  She was the daughter of Henry J. Berger (1877 – 1955) and Rebecca Adair Hunter Berger (1879 – 1950). She had at least one sister, M. Elizabeth Berger. She married Stephen Francis “Frank” Perdunn (1890 – 1946), a cable inspector in a steel mill, becoming a step-mother to his daughters from his first marriage.

Catherine had a career teaching secretarial classes at Rider College.

Catherine was an active member in her community. She was a part of the YWCA’s Business and Professional Club where she took part in committees that organized community and fundraising events. She was also a Sunday school teacher at the Fourth Presbyterian Church.   Catherine was a leader for the Women’s Association of the Lawrence Presbyterian Church.

Catherine died in July 1983 at the age of 73. She is buried in the First Presbyterian Church of Ewing Cemetery in Ewing, New Jersey.

Catherine Perdunn was invited to train for the Peace Corps at the University of Maryland in May 1962 when the program, created by President John F. Kennedy and led by Sargent Shriver, was only one year old. The mission of the Peace Corps was, and remains, “To promote world peace and friendship....” After thorough medical and educational exams, Perdunn was sent to British Honduras – now the country of Belize – which had been heavily damaged when a hurricane struck in 1961.

After two months of teaching in government schools in the capital, Belize City, Perdunn moved to a rural school in the southern region. Later, in a January 14, 1965, Calexico Chronicle article, Perdunn “stressed that the Peace Corps workers do not in any way superimpose U.S. culture and idea on the natives.” The country became a selfgoverning colony in January 1964, but it did not change its name to Belize until 1971. Although Perdunn stopped writing in her diary and returned to the United States in June 1964, she shared her experiences in a Rotary Club speech during the same year.