Peace Corps Volunteer Instructing about Poultry in Nepal, 1973, Smithsonian Archives - History Div, A Peace Corps volunteer gives information on breeding and raising healthier poultry in Janakpur, Nepal. In 1970 the Smithsonian contracted with the Peace Corps to assist in establishing an international environmental program, the Smithsonian Institution-Peace Corps Environmental Program (SI-PCEP) to develop conservation, biological, and ecological projects in natural resource fields. Recruits were placed through the Office of Environmental Sciences. President John F. Kennedy had set up the Young American Peace Corps in 1961..