assassination. 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 act of 1992. a short history. since the time of the assassination, there have been numerous official investigations starting with the warren commission and the some congressional investigations. the church committee looked into it. in the early 1990's, 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 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 purpose of the act was to make sure all of the records considered assassinated related were collected and sent to the national archives. there was an independent agency created whose job was to make sure they were complying with us and to make sure the records were open 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. pieces of paper. we also have photographs. some films, audio recording, and the likes. >> if the public or researchers want access to these items or , how does that work? martha: all they would need is come here and ask to have asse s access. there are records online. www.archives.gov. the national archives has created a database of the items 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. 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 it 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 f.b.i. and became a , commission exhibit of the warren commission. the second item you requested is lee harvey oswald's address book. this is a custom-made container made by our conservation staff. again this is acid-free. , 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 f.b.i. and eventually the warren commission as well. on the side of the map, they have 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 in the act itself. the assassination records review board, which was 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, we found little reason to continue to protect these records. many of them we found should not have been protected during the 1960's. we do have to remember the era in which this occurred, an era in which national security concerns were heightened. 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, everything 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 present to the archives that other collections might not? martha: one of the challenges is we have a lot of physical artifacts. 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 flip-flops. 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 who want to have access to these materials. there is always 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. 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 b-roll 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 f.b.i. exhibit b1, which is oswald's wallet, including its contents. i'm 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 f.b.i. to try to obtain fingerprints. it ended up staining the artifact. some people think it looks like blood. it is not blood. this would have been in all oswald's possession when he was arrested but not in his possession when he was shot. here she's 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. let's see what else is interesting in here. other kinds of i.d. cards, 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 and that is why we have filmed it. mostly because of the wallet itself even more than the contents. you can see some photographs that the woman in the picture is wife, marina. there you can see his marine corps photograph as well. so, the next exhibit that our conservator is showing you here is f.b.i. exhibit k-51, which was the camera used by mr. zapruder to take a very famous film of the assassination was -- which probably most people have seen. it's in a case. we have a case to it, which you can see. she's 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 acid-free 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, you'll 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 t-shirt oswald was wearing when he was shot. again, it is part of the warren commission records. you will see it says f.b.i. exhibits because the f.d.r. collected at first 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 j.f.k. act. 98% records were about 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 on to the f.b.i., or between individuals within the f.b.i. 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. our conservators have put these in acid-free boxes with tissues. any labeling that would've 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 placed these 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 pretty much 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 oswald's 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 ffixed 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 would've gone on trial for murder in texas. so the dallas police were investigating that. had toas the archives work with the dallas police? martha: no. all of these items were transferred to the f.b.i. 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 to us. because 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 oswald's wife and daughter were staying at the time, and oswald had 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 we're going to look at oswald's 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. you will see our conservator handling it very carefully. so she's 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 -- the f.b.i. 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 just another piece of evidence 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 i'm saying is in the warren commission report. they can look at the original f.b.i. files. the lab files of the lab technicians and scientists who worked at the f.b.i. the ballistic testing and fiber testing and all of that. those records are all part of the collection. and someone could come in and look 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: that's right. what i am saying actually is the opinion of the warren commission. i guess 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 found, ditched, near where tippit was killed. near where they saw, people thought they saw all swelled taking off after the killing of tippit. marina, oswald's wife, verified that this jacket was oswald's. 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 refer to it as commission exhibit 399, because that is the number that was assigned to it. it was found on oswald's -- it was found on a hospital 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, who was sitting in front of the president. after going through his arm, it was lodged into his thigh and fell off while he was on a 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 access catalog. i want to try to give as many views as possible because people have questions about every aspect of this bullet. as you can imagine. >> and that container, is that a special bullet container? martha: it is a container that we created ourselves in order to have it in a container where you can see it, but it has foam on the bottom, so it can be in there without rattling around, but you could turn it and view it from different angles. so it is just a way of conserving it but trying to keep it so that if we needed to pull it out for some reason, you could visibly see it. we had special housings made by s for the various bullet fragments that are associated with this. so once the limousine was back in washington, it was gone over very carefully and there were bullet fragments found in the limousine. so that is what you're going to see here. very small bullet fragments. there is the commission exhibit number, 840. and then this is a larger fragment that was also found. it has a separate number. there were cardboard boxes found on the sixth floor of the texas school book depository where the warren commission believes the shots were fired. and those boxes are retained by the national archives and are in our stacks. boxes put into boxes. as you can see there. yet again, here is another fragment of bullet that was found from the limousine. commission exhibit 567. so what we have here are slides of testing that was done during the time of the assassination records review board. it was determined that there was a fragment of something that was on the bullet that was not part of the bullet. there was some question about whether or not it was textile. this would've been significant had it been textile because this is the bullet that was believed to have hit the president in the head. not the bullet that went through his neck. and so testing was done. the national archives brought in --ious different agencies f.b.i. armed forces institute of , pathology -- to examine it and test it and make a determination. it was determined it was not textile. it was actually some sort of human tissue of some type. and so the next question was, could we determine any dna from this? and that's why we have these slides. it was determined that there was no way to get any kind of dna. there is a report on this which is available on our website. and basically that was why we had retained the slides because we would not dispose of anything. so this is kept in the same physical container as the bullet from which it was derived. here are four cartridge shells found at the scenes of the tippit murder. and they were able to tie these back to that revolver we saw him earlier. you can see the box we have. we have a place in the box for any textual documentation. and then of course, the items themselves. we also retain any previous housing, anything that it was in before, just because we want to be extremely diligent in making sure we do not lose any of the documentation related to these artifacts. these were cartridges found on oswald's custody at arrest. it was in the front pants pocket of lee harvey oswald, found by the dallas police. and again, more cartridge cases, but these were found at the texas schoolbook depository and are for the rifle. and finally, this is a camera that was used to take a photograph which is referred to generally as the backyard photo, because it was a photograph of oswald in his backyard taken by his wife with this camera. yet another artifact among the collection. and in that he's holding a , rifle. in his other hand, he has pamphlets, political pamphlets. a pretty famous photograph. this was an inspection that was done of the original 8 mm zapruder film. so the zapruder film has been in our custody for a number of years, but during the time of the assassination records review board, there was an official government taking of it. where the zapruders were provided with a payment for the value of it. and so now it is officially part of the custody of the national archives, the original. now, the copyright is retained. and i believe that the zapruder family has given the copyright over to the sixth floor museum, which is in the old texas schoolbook depository. if someone were to come here, they could look at it. if you were to choose to duplicate and publish it, you would need to get the copyright. permission, not copyright. if you were to come in to see it, you would be watching a duplicate of the original, which is true for any of our films, make sure want to films are preserved. when you come to look at films at the national archives, you're looking at a copy. we have motion picture sound and video branch within the national archives, which of course, is the portion of our agency that takes care of all motion pictures and sound recordings. they have custody of this item. you can see some of the images, which probably look familiar to people. i believe the zapruder film is also available through commercial outlets as well. >> the original artifact itself, how would that be stored and how often does anybody do what she's doing? martha: very rarely. this was done for a special effort. as color film, it is my understanding that this is stored in cold storage because cold storage will help to retain the preservation of the color. in a lot of ways, we treat the film as an artifact where we are trying to conserve it. so it is in cold storage. and not taken out. >> from your perspective, all this effort put into preserving things, why is that important? martha: that is our mission at the national archives. our job is to make sure the history of the u.s. government is preserved for all time. there is only a small percentage of records, 2% or 3% considered important enough to come to the national archives. if it is important enough to come here, we need to preserve it for all time. we work with our conservators. we have access policies. we work with researchers. increasingly we are trying to , digitize our records to make them available on the web so anyone anywhere can have access to the records of the national archives. next on american history tv, two presentations from in franchising equality, 150 years of the 15th amendment or co- university of kentucky history professor tracy campbell talked about the 1942 soldier voting act, which provided absentee voting for soldiers serving in world war ii. professor campbell looks at states that opposed the legislation and explores their motive. the second talk is given by a journalist, prize-winning author, and director of the journalism program at emory university. nixon whoes isaiah was killed after voting. this symposium is hosted by the university of the south in tennessee. this is about 90 minutes. >> good morning, everyone. good morning again and thank you for joining our second session today.