Eight millimeter film. Of the assassination taken by abrahams upper abraham zapruder. Our guide is Martha Wagner murphy, who manages the staff that maintains the records. Martha the president john f. Kennedy assassination records collection was created because of the john f. Kennedy assassination records collections act of 1992. A short history. Since the time of the assassination, there have been numerous official investigations starting with the Warren Commission and then some congressional investigations. The Church Committee looked into it. The pike committee. And the House Select Committee on assassinations, of course. In the early 1990s, there was a movie that came out by oliver stone. At the end of the movie, he made a point of saying that all the records have been open and available. Oliver mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is oliver stone. I assure you it is with pleasure and some pride i appear before the subcommittee today to urge the passage of house joint resolution 454 to provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of president john f. Kennedy. Martha the point was to make sure that all the records that were considered assassination related were collected and sent to the National Archives. And opened to the greatest extent possible. There was an independent agency created. It was temporary. Its job was to make sure they the agencies were complying with this and to make sure the records were open to the greatest extent possible. In response to the act, we created the collection, and the collection has been here at the National Archives ever since. We estimate there are about 5 million textual pages. So pieces of paper. We also have photographs. And some films, audio recordings, and the like. If the public or researchers want access to these items or how does that work . Martha they would need to come here and ask to have access. There are various finding aids on our website. Www. Archives. Gov. The National Archives has created a database of the items that were released after 1992 in response to the act. Which actually, the database entries were created by the agencies that were Still Holding the records. The National Archives created the database itself. Then all of that data was transferred here and we made that available to the public. And so, you can search on an item level the records that are in the collection. If you see something you would like to see, you can come here, ask to see it on our Business Hours when we are available. The box will be pulled and made available in our Research Room at the National Archives in college park. Here we have three items you requested. Unlike the physical artifacts, we were able to accommodate you and make these available to you because these are basically textual documents. They are not physical artifacts of the collection. The first item you requested was Commission Exhibit 381 a, which is this item right here. This is a bus transfer found in the pocket of Lee Harvey Oswald after he was arrested. It was obtained by the Dallas Police, eventually given over to the fbi, and became a Commission Exhibit of the Warren Commission. The second item you requested is Lee Harvey Oswalds address book. This is a custommade container made by our conservation staff. This is acidfree. This is mylar. It has a handy lift so you can get it out without having to pull on it. You can see this is Commission Exhibit 18. It has all of his handwritten items including the map, addresses, and telephone numbers, as you would expect. The final item is a map of mexico city. Oswald made a trip to mexico city prior to the assassination, and brought this map home. This was acquired by Dallas Police and the fbi and eventually the Warren Commission as well. This side of the map offers a smaller map with Tourist Spots which are identified on the side. As you can tell, certain things were circled. It was like that when we received it. Obviously, we would not add anything like that. The backside is a larger map, again, with several items circled. I had found in secondary sources people have written that some of the items circled and i assume it is on this side were actually the embassies of cuba and the ussr, but i have not found the primary documentation that is probably in the records that would document specifically what is circled on here. Of course, the context for these are documented well in the Warren Commission report. In order for something to become a Commission Exhibit, it would have been discussed in one of the testimonies taken by the Warren Commission or referenced in the warren report. So 50 years later, are there still classified items and how does the declassification process work . Martha that was taken care of in the act itself. The assassination records review board, the independent agency, had a unique power. They had the capability of overruling the agencies, even on a classification issue. The only appeal the agencies had was to the president of the United States. While the review board was in business, they made a final determination on the records. When the board reviewed these records and applied its balanced judgment, we found little reason to continue to protect these records. Many of them we found should not have been protected during the 1960s. But, we do have to remember the era in which this occurred, an era in which National Security concerns were heightened. And caused the ceiling of these important files. Martha however, there were a few, there are still some that remain classified in part or in full. If you read the act, it says that 25 years after the passing of the act, all of the materials must be made available. That will be october, 2017. We are already gearing up the process to get the material processed and ready for release. What particular challenges does this collection present to the archives that other collections might not . Martha one of the challenges is we have a lot of physical artifacts. And by artifacts, i mean things other than paper. We have the contents of the boarding room of where oswald was living, even things like his flipflops. And odd things like that here at the National Archives. It is fairly unusual. The National Archives does have some other artifacts, but we are mostly a paper agency. Because of the huge interest in this, we have numerous people that want to have access to these materials. There is always a tension between conservation and access. That has been our biggest challenge. The way we have addressed that is by trying to provide as much access as we can with still pictures and film of the most popular artifacts in the collection so people can see them and have the Research Questions answered without actually looking at the physical artifacts. Because every time we have to make an actual item available, we are risking a bit of the conservation of the item. That is why for the press, we have provided broll video of the artifacts themselves, which we did prior to the 50th anniversary. So here we are in one of our conservation labs. With one of our conservators. She is going to show us, which is fbi exhibit b1, which is oswalds wallet, including its contents. Im going to answer a question a lot of people have, which is what is the stain on portions of the items . That is from the finger print chemical that was used by the fbi to try to obtain fingerprints. It ended up staining the artifact. Some people think it looks like blood. It is not blood. This wouldve been in his possession when he was arrested but not in his possession when he was shot. Here shes laying out some of the items that were found which we have encapsulated in mylar. The conservators here at the National Archives. And some of the items in the wallet were things like a Social Security card, his Selective Service notice, a service i. D. , because of course he was in the marine corps at one time. Also, a fair play for Cuba Committee identification card, that was an organization he belonged to. Lets see what else is interesting in here. Other kinds of ids, a Public Library card. And so, all of these are just the contents of a wallet, just like you would have in your own wallet, whatever you have right now. This is something we would not normally make available to researchers, that is why we have filmed it. Mostly because of the wallet itself even more than the contents. There you can see some photographs the woman in the picture is his wife marina. There you can see his marine corps photograph as well. So, the next exhibit that our conservator is showing you here is fbi exhibit k51, which was the camera used by mr. Zapruder to take a very famous film of the assassination which probably most people have seen. Its in a case. We have a case to it, which you can see. As you can see, shes putting gloves on. We generally do not use gloves with paper. But with the artifacts, it is common practice to wear cotton gloves. We retain the case, but we do not store the camera in a case. What you can see is the acidfree box our camera is stored in. And the material that is inside the box to protect it as well. So, here you will see that says on this label on the outside of the box, a common means we have of identifying the item so that we can keep control of them, youll see rg 272, that refers to the record group for the records of the Warren Commission. Our records are arranged at the National Archives by group, which is the organization. So these records are just like all of the others. We maintain them in the same manner. So the next item is the tshirt oswald was wearing when he was shot. Again, it is part of the Warren Commission records. Youll see it says fbi exhibit because the fbi collected it first, and that it was and then it was transferred onto the Warren Commission and then eventually to the National Archives. I will say we have had the records of the Warren Commission well before the passing of the jfk act. Those records were 98 open prior to the act. Those records have been open and available at the National Archives for many years. So we have had these artifacts for a very long time as well. You will sometimes see on some of these artifacts that there are initials. Those initials were used as a means of documenting the transfer of custody from one organization to another, Dallas Police onto the fbi, or between individuals within the fbi. And each one of these artifacts, you could find textual documentation in our files that would tell you more about the significance of the artifacts you are seeing here. Again, this is the black sweater oswald was wearing when he was shot. Again we have, our conservators have put these in acidfree boxes with acidfree tissue to preserve them. Any labeling that wouldve been on the materials when they came to us, we have preserved every artifact of the artifacts. So any of these are all original labels. The National Archives would not have put the labels on here. Finally, this is the shirt oswald was wearing when he was shot. He was shot when he was in the custody of the Dallas Police, being moved from one place to another. And it was being filmed. So it was unusual. There was a lot of press available. The conservators at the National Archives have experience in what we need them to. If necessary, they will reach out to an expert. They have all been trained to deal with multiple types of materials. This item is Commission Exhibit 126. It was a blue bag that was found in oswalds effects. It was picked up at his residence on north beckley street by Dallas Police officers. And so this was a tag that was affixed by them. So it says, charge murder there. Martha right. The thing to remember is that at the time that kennedy was assassinated, it was not a federal crime to kill the president. So had he gone on trial, he wouldve gone on trial for murder in texas. So the Dallas Police were investigating that. So did the archives have to work with the Dallas Police . Martha no. All of these items were transferred to the fbi and then to the Warren Commission and they would have given it the Commission Exhibit number and it finally came to the National Archives. But it was within the custody of the u. S. Federal government prior to transfer to us. Of course, National Archives has records of the u. S. Federal government. We would not have the records of the Dallas Police had they not transferred into that custody. This is the famous rifle which oswald used to assassinate the president. You can see the custom box created by the conservation staff. It has its own Commission Exhibit number, 139. We consider it part of the records of the Warren Commission. They were the organization who had custody last prior to transfer. The next item is this blanket. This is the blanket that was found in the house of ruth payne. Ruth payne was the woman with whom oswalds wife and daughter were staying at the time, and oswald has stored some of his effects in their garage. And so, it is believed that he actually had wrapped the rifle in this blanket. It was found after the assassination. So next were going to look at oswalds revolver. So, after the president was assassinated, there was also a Police Officer who was killed. And he was killed by oswald using this revolver. And the interesting thing that i think a lot of people do not know is that oswald was initially arrested for the murder of officer tippit, not for the assassination of president kennedy. It was only when he was in Police Custody that they put together that they were looking for someone who was missing from the Texas School Book depository whose name was Lee Harvey Oswald, and we already have in have him in custody because they had him in custody for the killing of tippit. So, this revolver is significant for several reasons. And this is the shirt he was wearing when he was arrested. Here you will see our conservator handling it very carefully. So shes going to spend a little time and try to put it up on the form so you can see what it looks like. One of the interesting things about the shirt is that the fbi was able to find a piece of the fabric from the shirt attached to the rifle itself. The rifle was found at the Texas School Book depository. It is another piece of evidence that was used to connect oswald to the assassination. There you can see some initials put on the shirt itself. And everything i am telling you now, i just know because of working with the records. Anyone could come in, read the Warren Commission report, and most everything im saying is in the Warren Commission report. They can look at the original fbi files. The lab files of the Lab Technicians and scientists who worked at the fbi. The ballistic testing and fiber testing and all of that. Those records are all part of the collection. And someone could look through them selves. Through them themselves. But even when you said earlier, that is the rifle that oswald used to kill the president , there are people listening to this that would say that is not true. Martha thats right. What i am saying actually is the opinion of the Warren Commission. I should state that i have no opinion one way or another on this. But that is how it is identified in our records. And so that is how i will identify it to you. This is a gray zipper jacket. And the interesting thing, this also ties oswald to the murder of tippit because the Warren Commission, according to the Warren Commission, this jacket was found, thrown or ditched near where tippit was killed. And in the wrote people saw oswald or who people thought was oswald taking after the killing of tippit. Marina, oswalds wife, verified that this jacket was oswalds. If you read the Warren Commission report, they will give their opinion on this, that it does tie him to the killing of tippit. So, this is probably one of the more famous bullets in existence. It is sometimes referred to as the magic bullet. I