Felix Lapinski was interviewed by Polly Stewart on June 27, 1996. Lapinski was born in New York in 1923; worked for the General Electric Factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut; and served in the Army in World War II. He graduated from the Georgetown University Foreign Service School in 1949 and worked for the Agency for International Development until 1967; he then worked for the Department of Community Affairs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Lapinski worked next at the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior for 13 years. Lapinski taught English as a second language for 9 years and served in the Peace Corps from 1990-1992. Lapinski has been a docent at the Smithsonian Castle since 1976 and has also worked in Trips and Tours and the Information Desks of all Smithsonian museums. This interview discusses Lapinski's parents' heritage and their emigration from Poland to the United States, his childhood and dreams of being a history teacher, his various careers, how he came to volunteer at the Smithsonian, the various volunteer positions he has held, his reflections on the Smithsonian Institution, and anecdotes about working in the Castle. Lapinski also relates several historical stories about the Smithsonian, including a discussion of the Horatio Greenough statue of George Washington, a photograph of the Joseph Henry family on the Mall, and the donation of the British escutcheons.

Object Details

See more items in: Smithsonian Memories Project, Festival of American Folklife Oral History Interviews; Smithsonian Memories Project, Festival of American Folklife Oral History Interviews / Interviews

Collection Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 9594, Smithsonian Memories Project, Festival of American Folklife Oral History Interviews