14 Oct National Archives College Park
On Monday, I flew to College Park, MD (just outside Washington, DC) to spend four days at the National Archives facility there. This is where the declassified records of the Office of Strategic Services are stored. In 2000 documents which had been previously classified were released, and this opened the floodgates for researchers working on projects related to the OSS.
In 2009 I was here for two days. There is a Holiday Inn not far from the College Park location that has a shuttle which will take me back and forth each day and allows me to be here without a car.
Memo with my mother’s handwriting all over it.
The first order of business was to apply for a research card (good for one year so I needed to do this again) and watch a power point presentation on how to protect the fragile and valuable records. I can bring in my laptop and scanner (flatbed only, no feeder.) The serial numbers of both are checked going in and coming out. I have to leave my jacket, purse, case, pens, etc. in a locker and put my equipment on a rolling cart. Any paperwork I want to bring into the research room will be carefully checked and stamped. No paper clips. No post-it notes. Staples are okay. I found this online pdf document which explains the process as well as anything, even though the author was researching military instead of OSS records.
Once I’m upstairs on the 2nd floor where the OSS textual records are kept, there are research assistants who will help you fill out the paperwork you need in order for them to pull boxes of files for you to look through. It helps immensely if you will do some online research before coming in that first morning so you will be able to make your first order by the 10 am deadline. Write down the entry and box numbers for each file you want to see, and you will soon catch on to how the order forms need to be completed.
Amazingly, on my first day I recognized and introduced myself to two of the top experts in the field of OSS research. I have used both of them as references in my research.
What I’ve seen so far after three days of research is a drop in the bucket of what is available, but I’ve found many documents that were done by my mother, with her handwriting all over some of them. There were also a couple of reports written up and signed by my father.
It feels like nothing is organized the way it should be/could be, but just think what a tremendous job that would be … Practically every sheet of paper that was created during the war has been saved. I even found some personal notes of affection, written on stationary: “When will I see you again? Let’s get together soon.”
It felt like searching for a needle in a haystack. Some records are still being withheld by the CIA, but there is enough available to give a fascinating behind-the-scenes look of the OSS in action.
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