Author Archives: Robert Reynolds

ARC Release 6: Replacing files at NARA

[First posted on January 9, 2018, at rgr-cyt.org.]

This post continues a discussion of the sixth release of ARC records from NARA. This time I will look at a quirk of release 6 that I call replacement files.

As I noted a while ago (here and here), in releases 1-5 there were a number of records listed twice in NARA’s spreadsheet of documents posted on line.…

2017 JFK ARC releases at NARA: Release 6

[First posted on December 16, 2017, 2017 at rgr-cyt.org.]

The National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) has released a sixth set of records under the JFK Records Act. The release, which took place on December 15, was announced here. According to the announcement,

At this point, with the exception of 86 record identification numbers where additional research is required by the National Archives and the other agencies, all documents subject to section 5 of the JFK Act have been released either in full or in part

This may therefore be the end of NARA posting ARC records.…

ARRB Electronic Records at NARA

[First posted on December 11, 2017, at rgr-cyt.org.]

In all the news coverage about the release of documents under the JFK Records Act, one release has attracted almost no attention. As the NARA press release on the October 26 release noted (here), the electronic records of the Assassination Record Review Board, the agency which determined what government records would be released under the JFKRA, were also released.…

The 2017 JFK ARC releases: An audit

[First posted on November 28, 2017 at rgr-cyt.org.]

This post is a continuation of my previous post on the 2017 ARC releases. It is more number checking, no comments here on the content of the releases. This is probably boring to most readers (if there are any), but it’s always good to know the exact extent of the material you’re dealing with, otherwise you may wind up drawing conclusions based on partial or inaccurate information and numbers.…

2017 JFK ARC releases at NARA: Release 5

[First posted on November 19, 2017 at rgr-cyt.org]

NARA released a fifth set of ARC documents on November 17. According to NARA’s press release, there are 10744 documents in this set (144 previously withheld in full, 10600 withheld in part), all from the FBI. Once again there are duplicates in this set, this time 7 documents that have the same RIF numbers as do documents in the fourth release on November 3.…

2017 JFK ARC releases at NARA: Releases 1-4

[First posted on November 14, 2017 at rgr-cyt.org.]

After looking at Harold Weisberg’s archive last year, I became interested in the JFK assassination, a subject I had never really looked at before. The recent NARA release of documents under the JFK Records Act, which was supposed to be the final release of all previously withheld documents, was therefore quite interesting to me.…