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FAQ- Scribd.

com/911DocumentArchive (revised 9/1/09)

Where can I find the 9/11 Commission records?


9/11 Commission records are being scanned at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in
Washington, DC and uploaded to: http://www.scribd.com/911DocumentArchive. Approximately 50,000 pages have
been uploaded to date, and more will be added as additional records are made public.

January 14, 2009, 391 Boxes (approximately 35%) of the 9/11 Commission’s records were made public. These
records can be viewed (and scanned) at NARA in Washington, D.C. Copies of documents can also be ordered from
the National Archives, for a fee. NARA has posted over 1200 “Memoranda for the Record” (MFR) (Commission
interviews or briefings) at its website, Archives.gov, but isn’t planning to post the other records.

Main NARA 9/11 Commission Records site:


http://www.archives.gov/research/9-11-commission/

9/11 Commission MFRs at NARA:


http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/commission-memoranda.html

Finding Aid for the 9/11 Commission Records at NARA:


http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/finding-aid.pdf

Official 9/11 Commission site, frozen and maintained by NARA:


http://www.9-11Commission.gov

What is Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive?
9/11 Commission and other records related to 9/11 are being scanned, described and made available as PDF files,
free to the online public at http://www.scribd.com/911DocumentArchive. This project is managed primarily by Erik
Larson and Kevin Fenton, who are also contributors to the Complete 9/11 Timeline at:
http://www.historycommons.org/project.jsp?project=911_project.

The primary focus of 911DocumentArchive is on 9/11 Commission records. 338 of the 391 boxes released Jan 14,
2009 have been reviewed. If a file has been posted from a certain box, the entire box was reviewed. The main focus
of scanning is unique records produced or received by the 9/11 Commission, such as emails, letters, memos, notes,
minutes, reports, presentations, records, document indices, etc. Boxes that were not reviewed generally are labeled as
containing material that is similar to or available from other public sources. Not all records are being scanned from
every box reviewed; many of the records are reports by government agencies, private institutions or media, and are
already public. Other records are redundant (i.e., in other boxes), or mundane (such as fax cover sheets without
additional info). In some cases only the first page of a record is scanned, for reference purposes; in the case of
copyrighted material it is believed this constitutes ‘Fair Use’. PDF files may contain single or multiple different
records from one folder; related records, such as correspondence, document requests, Withdrawal Notices or the
‘entire contents’ of a folder are often scanned together- for continuity, context and/or convenience.

Records are being added from other sources that may be part of the 9/11 Commission’s inquiry, or related to other
9/11 investigations. For instance, the MFR’s from NARA’s website; the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry
Report, staff statements and hearing transcripts; Moussaoui trial records; NIST, FBI, CIA, GAO, Inspectors General
and other investigations.

History Commons Groups blog- after records are reviewed in greater detail, entries highlighting significant
information and linking to the source records are posted here:
http://hcgroups.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/911-commission-documents-masterlist/
Why do the records look fuzzy?
The Scribd.com reader may render some documents with a fuzzy, double-image; if you download the document
(requires free Scribd.com registration), it will be clear.

What’s the best way to research the 9/11 records at Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive?


NARA has published a Finding Aid http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/finding-aid.pdf. This outline
is structured by Series, (the team, person or office that managed those records); then Box number; then Folder name.
Folder names give a general idea of the contents and are sometimes, but not always, descriptive of the entire
contents. Information on the focus of each Series is at NARA’s website:
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/commission-series.html

The search bar in the Scribd.com menu bar searches the entire Scribd.com site- to limit your search to the
Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive collection, click the ‘See All’ link under the Scribd search bar; next to
“911DocumentArchive’s Documents”- this is the direct url to that page:
http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/7104168-911documentarchive

Searching keywords will return a list of all the files with your terms in the tags or the document text, as the PDF files
are text-searchable.

If you download a document (requires free Scribd.com registration) your PDF viewer can search the document for
the keywords, as well; hit Ctrl+F if you don’t see a search bar in your viewer. Some files are large and contain
dozens, even hundreds of pages; searching a document this way can be a big time-saver.

What do the PDF file names mean?


To help keep the PDF files organized and easily sourced, when scanned they’re given a file name which matches the
Series, Box number and Folder name, following the format of the NARA Finding Aid. The first 2 letters, or letter
and number combo (for instance “T8”) refers to the Series, i.e. ‘Team 8’. The next letter/number combo (for
instance, “B5”) refers to the box number in that series. The next bit of text exactly or closely matches the folder
name in that box (for instance, “NORAD Press Release Fdr”). The text following that is a brief description of what
the PDF file contains. Some PDF files have 3 digits at the end of the name; these are added automatically by the
scanning application, and are not related to the documents.

Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive includes MFRs that were not included in the series at NARA’s website, as well as
different versions of ones that were. In addition, all of the MFRs from NARA’s site are being uploaded to
Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive. MFRs from NARA’s website follow this naming system; ‘MFR NARA- Series-
Affiliation- Name- Date- url extension’. The ‘url extension’ is the last 5 numbers of the NARA url; the primary url
for the MFRs at NARA follows this system: http://media.nara.gov/9-11/MFR/t-0148-911MFR-00000. To find any of
these MFRs at NARA, simply replace the 00000 with the 5 digits at the end of the file name.

These PDF file names are also used as titles when initially uploaded to Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive. As the
records are reviewed in more detail, they are being given new titles and descriptions, and the Series, Box number and
Folder info is added to the description and tags. If this info is missing, please let us know.

What if 9/11 Commission records don’t appear in the search results, or if I have other questions?
If they don’t appear in the search results, try the search again using different terms, with and without quotes, or
without full names. In some cases, the name of the entity (person, agency or organization) you’re searching for may
be misspelled in the document. If the records you want still don’t appear, they may not have been scanned.

If there are records you’d like to see made available here that aren’t, or if you have other questions, suggestions or
comments, please contact us through the “Send 911DocumentArchive a message” link on left side of the
Scribd.com/911DocumentArchive homepage. We can’t respond to every request, but we appreciate feedback.

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