On January 11, 2010, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum opened approximately 280,000 pages of textual materials, 12 hours of sound recordings, and 7,000 images from the personal collection of White House photographer Oliver F. Atkins (“Ollie”) at the National Archives College Park, MD, facility and at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

Materials available at the College Park facility include:

• The textual release includes 5,500 pages declassified, in whole or in part, as the result of mandatory review requests from individual researchers. These documents essentially cover national security matters. Topics include the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, President Nixon’s visit to Europe in 1969 (including his meetings with French President Charles de Gaulle), US-West German discussions on the future of a divided Berlin, the Jordanian Crisis of 1970, the Oil Embargo of 1973, and U.S. relations with Brazil, Chile Egypt, India, Spain and the United Kingdom and the former USSR;
• Approximately 20,000 pages of formerly restricted materials from the White House Special Files and Staff Member and Office files. These documents comprise several memoranda by President Nixon, Charles W. Colson, Patrick J. Buchanan and H. R. “Bob” Haldeman on policy, campaign tactics, political matters and political appointments; Topics include liberalism and conservatism in the Nixon White House, Public Broadcasting, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Hoffa, Dan Rather, Katherine Graham, Dick Cavett, Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the political investigation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Busing, the Federal Reserve, and the appointment of a new Vice President in 1973. This release also includes handwritten notes made by White House staff members in 1971-72 that provide additional details on the attempted politicization of the Internal Revenue Service, the selling of ambassadorships, the covert surveillance of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy and the creation of domestic political espionage (i.e., Operation Sandwedge) and “dirty tricks” capabilities ahead of the 1972 campaign;
• Donated photographic materials of chief White House photographer Oliver F. Atkins. Comprising over 7,000 photographic negatives, transparencies, prints, contact sheets and related publications, this collection spans the important career of Mr. Atkins from the early 1940’s through the 1970’s. This is a major addition to the Nixon Library’s audio-visual collection. 5,400 of the image negatives are available on contact sheets for research, but 1,800 do not have contact sheets, but finding aids can be used.

Materials Available in Yorba Linda, CA:

• Approximately 40,000 pages of domestic policy materials from the Health, Education and Welfare and White House files of Frederic V. Malek. This collection includes materials on Mr. Malek’s role in systematizing the staffing of the entire federal government; on the Nixon administration’s commitment to environmental protection and welfare reform; as well as documents that further detail religious discrimination and the political investigation of the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1971;
• Approximately 75,000 pages from Mr. Malek’s files from the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), where he served as Deputy Campaign Manager in 1972. The Nixon Library received the CRP files as part of a large 2007 deed of gift of political and campaign materials from the Nixon Foundation;
• A small collection of Alexander M. Haig, Jr.’s staff member and office files.