I propose a research project that would explore “subversive” groups within post-World War Two America. Specifically, such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan, the American Communist Party, the Aryan Nation and the American Nazi Party. Some lesser known organizations to be examined include: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the United Farm Workers Association. To be explored is the seriousness to which the United States Government took these organizations, specifically their ability to subvert the population or influence politics, and the methods the government used to infiltrate and monitor these organizations’ members and inner workings.
One web-site that stands out in its ability to facilitate such a research project is the on-line companion to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Freedom of Information Act “Reading Room,” which is located at its headquarters in Washington, DC. The on-line version of the Reading Room features scanned text of many once secret and confidential communications and investigations produced and carried out by the FBI that are already found in analog form in the Reading Room at FBI headquarters. All documents featured in both Reading Rooms have been requested by private citizens under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
The Reading Room page of the FBI’s website is unpretentious and instructive. Upon entering the page, the visitor is presented with a brief introduction followed by an explanation of materials available on the site. The visitor is given the option of going to a “COMPLETE” alphabetical listing of digitized files or to a sampling of the files broken down into seven categories from espionage to “unusual phenomena.” On the right side of the screen is an index of the site. With the exception of when the visitor is viewing the actual digitized documents, the index appears on all pages of the site. This feature makes navigation on the site extremely easy since all page options are available at a glance.
Extensive use of hyperlinks are used to navigate throughout the site. These links are well thought out, logical and easy to follow. For instance, choosing the alphabetical listing of files will take the visitor to a page listing all the files on individuals and organizations currently available in digital format. Individuals such as Bud Abbott and John Wayne and organizations such as the Mexican Mafia and the Ku Klux Klan are featured here. When selecting a file, the visitor will go to a page which offers a brief explanation (metadata) of the subject in question, why they were investigated and when. Records on the subject are featured on the page as “parts” or files. Some individuals/organizations have one part, some twenty. Selecting a “part” will take the visitor to the documents digitized in PDF format; some parts have hundreds of documents in them, some only a few. These documents are arranged chronologically within each part. To revert back from viewing the documents to introduction page, the visitor must use the back arrow of the browser.
In addition to the ease of navigation and its clear layout, the site has many advantages and, as can be expected, disadvantages for conducting research on subversive groups. The first and most obvious advantage is that actual FBI material on these groups is available for viewing on-line. Second, the material is in its original form, with annotations and comments in margins. And, third, the way the site offers the information -- broken down by groups -- makes the research easy. However, since these are scanned images and not in machine-readable text, searching by name or organization is difficult. The search function of the site only searches the metadata the FBI inserts in the beginning of the subject sections. Searching for “Hoover,” for instance, will produce 26 results; but these results are products of the word Hoover appearing in the metadata at the beginning of each subject section and not the result of searching thousands of documents for the word Hoover. So if a reference to the American Nazi Party appears briefly somewhere in the pages of Albert Einstein’s file, the researcher may never know unless he/she knows before hand to look through these pages or unless the word appears in the metadata for Einstein. Also, since these are scanned images, the quality is often poor. Some of the earliest FBI files available on the site are unreadable.
Some additional intrinsic disadvantages to an archival site such as this, and ones which would necessitate an actual visit to the Reading Room in order to facilitate research, include there being only summaries on-line of some of the files that contain “voluminous pages.” In addition, someone is choosing which files are digitized and which ones aren’t. Also, the FBI’s files, while important and valuable to a research project on subversive organizations, would only be one component of that research. Research from other sources, such as local police departments or other federal agencies might be needed and, unless they also have digitized files, a visit might be in order. Even if they offer digitized files, the same constraints as previously mentioned would also apply.
In conclusion, while utilizing digitized files may make research easier, until such time when all past information is available on line and not subject to constraints of scanned rather than machine readable text, the expense of digitizing, or the limitations of storage size on a mainframe, research will never be completely “digital.” This would also apply to current and future information being gathered.