Unlocking History: The JFK-Project Mission

For decades, the full story behind one of the 20th century's most pivotal events – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – has remained fragmented, locked away within millions of pages of declassified government documents stored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

These documents, released in stages over the years (notably in 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, with more anticipated), represent an unparalleled historical resource. However, their sheer volume and often poor physical condition (aging paper, low-quality scans, complex markings) have made them largely inaccessible for comprehensive digital analysis.

Stylized depiction of rows of archive boxes under dim, atmospheric lighting.
Millions of pages hold fragmented clues.

Our Commitment

The JFK-Project is an independent, open-source initiative driven by a commitment to historical transparency and accuracy. Our mission is clear: to transform this vast, deteriorating archive into a high-fidelity, meticulously structured, and fully searchable digital resource.

We aim to go far beyond simple digitization. Using a sophisticated pipeline powered by cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence, including advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Large Language Models (LLMs), we are systematically processing each document page. Our goal is not just to transcribe the text, but to understand its structure, assess its quality, handle complexities like handwriting and redactions, and ultimately synthesize the information into a format that is truly useful for researchers, journalists, historians, and the public.

Open Source, Open Access

We believe this history belongs to everyone. All transcribed data, analysis results, and the underlying processing code developed for this project will be made freely available to the public via accessible repositories. We are building a resource, not hoarding information.

This is a monumental challenge requiring significant technical expertise, computational resources, and financial support. Explore The Challenge to understand the difficulties, learn about our AI Approach, and see how you can Support Us in completing this vital work.