Research Support Services

The Kennedy Library Archives is open to the public and serves anyone who needs access to its unique holdings. Whether you are a student, author, creative artist, documentary or feature filmmaker, journalist, member of the press, educator, scholar, or history enthusiast, we are happy to work with you to meet your individual research needs.

JFK Library archivists can assist researchers in a number of ways.

On-site researchers: Researchers planning to visit the Library can contact the archivists to make an appointment and get help identifying relevant collections.

Remote researchers: Archivists can answer questions about our holdings if we can address the question in a reasonable amount of time. We are not able to conduct extensive or interpretive research, appraise or authenticate materials from private collections, or evaluate researchers’ work.

We encourage all researchers to contact us at Kennedy.Library@nara.gov to ask about the services we offer, listed below.

Ask an Archivist

Researchers can use this online form to request information or materials from the textual and audiovisual archives.

Other Resources

Discover tools for navigating resources and information at the JFK Library and other institutions, compiled by JFK Library archivists.

Citation Guide

With over 400 collections made up of about 24 million pages, JFK Library staff and researchers rely on thorough, accurate citations and credit lines. Noting where an individual document or photograph came from lends legitimacy to any research project, and can help archivists and researchers put the item in context and find additional helpful materials.

Copyright

Explore the basics of copyright law and how it applies to archival materials at the JFK Library.

Declassification & Review

Collections, folders, and individual items can be closed to research for several reasons. Researchers have various options for requesting the review and potential opening of closed materials, depending on the reason for the closure.

Collection Policy and Donating Materials

The Library accepts donations of unique, original primary-source materials that fall within our collection development guidelines. Click here for additional information on our policies for evaluating and accepting donated materials into our holdings.

Research Fellowships & Grants

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation offers competitive research fellowships and grants every year to scholars and students who wish to make use of the archival holdings (including audiovisual materials) of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.