Founded in 1981, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) is a private nonprofit federation of independent overseas research centers (ORCs) that promote advanced research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, with a focus on the conservation and recording of cultural heritage and the understanding and interpretation of modern societies. CAORC fosters research projects across national boundaries, encourages collaborative research and programmatic and administrative coherence among member centers, and works to expand their resource base and service capacity. CAORC member centers maintain a permanent presence in the host countries where they operate—in Europe, Latin America, the Near and Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and West Africa. The centers are the primary vehicle through which American scholars carry out research vital to our understanding of and intersection with other cultures.