About how they had to change their methods to capture ted kaczynski. Tv visitsn history museums and historic places. Next, we visit the National Archives in college park, maryland, to learn about the kennedy assassination records collection. The warren report was released to the public 50 years ago on september 27, 1964. We will see video recorded by the National Archives of many of the wellknown artifacts of the investigation including Lee Harvey Oswalds rifle, the socalled magic bullet, and the originals of the zapruder film. Our guide is Martha Wagner murphy. The president john f. Kennedy assassination records collection was created because of the john f. Kennedy assassination records act of 1992. Since the time of the assassination, there have been numerous official investigations starting with the Warren Commission. Some congressional investigations. The Church Committee looked into it. 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. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is oliver stone. I assure you it is with pleasure and with 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. There are various finding aids. The National Archive 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 holding the record. The National Archives created the database itself. Then all of that data was transferred here and we made that available to the public. We estimate there are about 5 million textual papers. E also have photographs if the public want access to these items or research, how does that work . For most ofst the textual records, all they would need to do is come here and ask for access. There are records online. Of the itemstabase that were released after 1992 in response to the act. 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. 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, 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 it available to you because these are basically textual documents. They are not physical artifacts of the collection. This is a custommade container made by our conservation staff. This was a bus transfer found in the pocket of Lee Harvey Oswald after he was arrested. And 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. It is the 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. Obvious way, we were not at anything like that. The back side 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 seem on the 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 an exhibit, it would have been discussed in one of the testimonies taken by the Warren Commission or referenced in the warren report. 50 years later, other still are there still classified items and how does the declassification process work . That was taken care of any in the act itself. The assassination records review board had a unique power. They had the capability of overruling the agencies, even on classification. The only appeal the agencies had was to the president of the united states. While the board was in business, they made a final determination on the records. When the board review these records, we found little reason to continue to protect these records. Many of them we found should not have been protected during the 1960s. We do have to remember the era in which this occurred, an era in which National Security concerns were heightened. 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 gearing up the process to get the material processed and ready for release. What particular challenges does this collection percent to the archives does this collection presents to the archives that other collections might not . One of the challenges is we have a lot of physical artifacts. By artifacts, i mean physical i mean things other than paper. We have the contents of the boarding room of where oswald was living, even things like his flipflops. Odd things like that. It is fairly unusual. The National Archives does have 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 tension between conservation and access. That has been our biggest challenge. We have addressed that 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. 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 video of the artifacts themselves which we did prior to the 50th anniversary. 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 think fingerprints. It ended up staining the artifact. Some people think it looks like blood. It is not. 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 conservatives 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, the researchers, that is why we have filmed it. Mostly because of the wallet itself even more than the content. They agency also some photographs that 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 was probably most people have seen. Its in a case. We have a case to it, which 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 that we do but we doin the case, 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, heres, 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. The fbi collected at first, and that 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 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 and are 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. Our conservators have put these in acidfree boxes with tissues. 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. A blue bag that was found i n 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 a fixed by them. So it says, charge murder there. Right. 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, does the archive have had to work with the Dallas Police . No. All of these items were transferred to the fbi and then to the Warren Commission and finally came to the National Archives. But it was within the custody of the u. S. Federal government private transfer. 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. This was 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 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 youll seeour conservator handling it very carefully. So shes going to spend a little time and try to put it up on the form. 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 we 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 it. 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 file for testing. Those records are all part of the collection. And some could look through them. But even when you said earlier, that is the rifle that oswald used, there are people listening to this that would say, that is not true. In him 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. 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 found near where tippit was killed. Near where they saw oswald taken 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 him and himit is sometimes referred to as the magic bullet. In an i refer to it as Commission Exhibit 399, because that is the number that was assigned to it. It was found on oswalds stretcher. It is believed by the Warren Commission that this is the bullet that first hit president kennedy, exited through his neck, and hit governor connally and who was sitting in front of him and the president. After going through his arm, it was lodged into his thigh and a fell off while he was on a him stretcher in parkland. One thing to let people know is that we have very high quality, High Resolution images of most of these artifacts. This one in particular available on www. Archives. Gov, through our Online Public action archive. I want