Declassified: Exploring formerly Top Secret records
It’s Sunshine Week! While we celebrate information access every day at the National Archives, Sunshine Week is an annual event celebrating freedom of information, transparency, and open government. Join us this week as we shine a light on some popular declassified records available at the National Archives.
Memorandum from Major General Leslie Groves to Army Chief of Staff about the Availability of Another Atomic Bomb, 8/10/1945 National Archives Identifier 6874336
Project Blue Book
For more than 20 years, the U.S. Air Force documented and analyzed UFO sightings through Project Blue Book, which launched in 1952.
The United States Air Force retired to the custody of the National Archives its records on Project BLUE BOOK relating to the investigations of unidentified flying objects. Project BLUE BOOK has been declassified and the records are available for examination in our research room. The project closed in 1969 and we have no information on sightings after that date. Learn more:
President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection
Hyannisport Weekend. Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy. Hyannisport, MA, aboard the "Honey Fitz"., 8/25/1963. National Archives Identifier 194267
John F. Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963. Almost 30 years later, Congress enacted the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. The Act mandated that all assassination-related material be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The resulting Collection consists of more than 5 million pages of assassination-related records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts (approximately 2,000 cubic feet of records). Most of the records are open for research. Learn more: JFK Assassination Records Collection.
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force", was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed. However, the publications of the report that resulted from these leaks were incomplete and suffered from many quality issues.
On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the National Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, released the complete report. There are 48 boxes and approximately 7,000 declassified pages. View the Pentagon Papers in the National Archives Catalog (National Archives Identifier 5889786).
9/11 Commission Records
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, was an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress. The Commission's mandate was to provide a "full and complete accounting" of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and to provide recommendations as to how to prevent such attacks in the future. When the 9/11 Commission closed on August 21, 2004, it transferred legal custody of its records to the National Archives. The Commission encouraged the release of its records to the fullest extent possible in January 2009. A large percentage of the Commission's records are national security classified files. The National Archives maintains a list of documents released since the records were opened in 2009.
Firefighters look on as President George W. Bush surveys the destruction left by terrorist attacks on New York City. Photographer: Paul Morse. National Archives Identifier 5997302
CIA Maps
The RG 263 CIA Published Maps (also called the CIA Numbered Maps or Numerical Series) is made up of over 22,000 declassified maps. These maps date primarily from the 1940s to the 1970s, cover most areas of the world, and provide a particularly interesting glimpse into the activities and interests of the CIA and US government during the Cold War and Vietnam War. Nearly 3,000 are now available to view and download in the National Archives Catalog. Learn more on the Unwritten Record blog: RG 263 CIA Published Maps: A Digitization Project In Progress – The Unwritten Record
Interested in declassification? Learn more about the National Archives National Declassification Center and stay up to date on the latest releases with the NDC blog.
The clock is ticking down to the April 1, 2022 launch of the 1950 Census! Less than one month remains before the National Archives makes the 1950 census available for free on a dedicated website at 12:01 am on April 1, 2022. As we count down to the April 1 release of the 1950 Census, sign up for updates including an opportunity to join a name index transcription project that will support free access to our nation’s history.
The National Archives and Records Administration debuted the first of seven planned sessions in its 2022 Genealogy Series last week with an “Overview of What's on the 1950 Census," led by archivist and genealogy and census subject matter expert Claire Kluskens. Learn more about the National Archives Genealogy Series: 1950 Census on archives.gov.
In March, the National Archives celebrates the contributions of Irish Americans in our nation’s history during Irish American Heritage Month. Learn more, and explore more records and resources related to Irish American history and heritage on archives.gov.
Make History Hub your first stop! You can ask—or answer—questions on History Hub, or see if your question has already been answered.
COVID-19 Update
The National Archives is committed to the health and safety of our visitors and staff. We are closely monitoring the situation regarding COVID-19, and we are working with public health officials and our counterpart agencies to monitor and respond to the evolving conditions and following CDC guidelines.
