The Asia Programs office originated in 1958 as the Office for South and Southeast Asia, a subdivision of the Overseas Development Program. After a Foundation reorganization in 1966, the Office for South and Southeast Asia became part of the International Division, and in 1968, was renamed Asia and the Pacific. In 1981, the Office for Asia and the Pacific became part of the Developing Countries Program. In 1989, the Asia Programs was constituted as a full program area. Peter F. Geithner joined the Ford Foundation in 1966 and became Assistant Representative of the India Office in 1968. He served as Representative of the Southeast Asia office and later Representative in China before being appointed Regional Director of the Asia Programs in 1990, a position he held until 1996. The Office Files of Peter F. Geithner span in date from 1990 to 1994, during the time he served as Regional Director of the Asia Programs. The bulk of the files consists of correspondence concerning the Ford Foundation's work in assisting the economic development of Vietnam. Other files document the Foundation's relations with the government of Vietnam, including the process of seeking and obtaining permission from the Vietnamese government to operate within its national borders. There are also files containing materials from the Aspen Institute Indochina Policy Project (1991-1992) and the Vietnam Reconstruction Conference in Arlington, Virginia (1992).

Subject Files, primarly regarding Vietnam

The collection primarily consists of report drafts with memos and published articles related to the Ford Foundation's efforts to establish community forestry practices in Asia.

Collection contains the staff subject files of Peter F. Geithner that Geithner created during the time he served as Program Officer in Charge of the Ford Foundation's Developing Countries Program (DCP) between 1981 and 1987. The collection so far consists only of Geithner's meeting and trip files. Meeting files contain correspondence, memos, drafts, notes, papers, agendas, active grants lists, invitation lists, brochures, publications, guides, and summaries that document the work that Geithner, other Ford Foundation staff members such as the different Country Representatives, and external individuals and organizations completed for organizing, participating in, and reporting on various Ford Foundation program meetings and other types of events and conferences. Trip files contain the same type of materials found in the meeting files as well as itineraries and travel information memos and documents. Geithner created these files to document his visits to various countries and Ford Foundation field offices as well as the visits he helped organize for individuals like Foundation Board of Trustees Members. There are also a few photographs within the collection.

This collection holds the papers of Peter F. Geithner who served as Regional Director of Asia Programs for the Ford Foundation between 1990 and 1996. It contains both professional and personal material, and although it chiefly consists of records created during the course of Geithner's long career in philanthropy, it was maintained by Geithner as an individual person and stored at his home in Orleans, Massachusetts. See the Other Finding Aids note to locate Ford Foundation records created by Geithner during his time as Regional Director of Asia Programs.