Press/Journalists

Press Release nr96-31
Press Release · Tuesday, February 13, 1996

Washington, DC

Press Release
February 13, 1996
JFK Assassination Records Collection Reference System of the National Archives Now On-Line

Washington, DC . . . The National Archives has added to its new Internet website an electronic index of the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection. This database is one of three searchable databases providing on-line access to information about Federal records.

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Reference System, at http://www.archives.gov/research_room/jfk/index.html, contains more than 170,000 descriptions of documents. As mandated by the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, agencies holding assassination related material must enter information about these records into the system. The database contains all of the electronic entries that have been transferred to the National Archives by these agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Justice (including the Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the Department of State. Information about records in the custody of the National Archives, including records from the House Select Committee on Assassinations and a few previously unopened records from the Warren Commission, is also on the database.

Documents that were open for research and in the custody of the National Archives on October 26, 1992, the day the JFK Act was signed, are not included in the database. Most notably, the majority of materials gathered by the Warren Commission have not been separately indexed. Many documents in the database are still under review by certain agencies or have been postponed from disclosure. This information is noted in the database, and updates to the system will be made periodically.

The National Archives website provides information about the agency's mission; the hours and locations of all National Archives facilities nationwide, including the regional archives, Presidential libraries and Federal Register; and other practical information for researchers, genealogists and records managers. The address is http://www.archives.gov/.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (202) 501-5525 or by e-mail at public.affairs@nara.gov. Visit the National Archives Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.archives.gov/.

96-31

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