Onsite Research: Before You Come

We are in the process of digitizing many of our archival holdings, which include textual, audiovisual, and artifact collections. Some collections are digitized in full, such as the President's Office Files and the John F. Kennedy Personal Papers. Other collections, including the White House Photographs and the Presidential Recordings, are digitized in part and continue to grow every day.

Finding aids (detailed guides to collections and holdings) are the primary tools for locating archival materials available to you. Here you may browse the more than 400 finding aids and collection overviews published on our website. (Print finding aids are also available in our Main Research Room.) To conduct a keyword search of our holdings, go to: search our collections.

Here you’ll find answers to frequently asked questions, transcripts of selected speeches given by John F. Kennedy, a summary of legislation passed or proposed during President Kennedy’s administration, and other helpful resources.