Visit the Research Room

Research Room Hours in Yorba Linda, California

Day:   Monday - Friday 
Time:   9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Closed Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

• 2025 Closure Information

  • Wednesday, January 1 - New Year’s Day

  • Thursday, January 9 - National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter

  • Monday, January 20 - Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • Monday, January 20 * - Inauguration Day

  • Monday, February 17 ** - Washington’s Birthday

  • Monday, May 26 - Memorial Day

  • Thursday, June 19 - Juneteenth National Independence Day

  • Friday, July 04 - Independence Day

  • Monday, September 01 - Labor Day

  • Monday, October 13 - Columbus Day

  • Monday, October 27 - In-Service Day

  • Tuesday, November 11 - Veterans Day

  • Wednesday, November 26 - Research rooms close at 1 pm for Thanksgiving Day

  • Thursday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Day

  • Wednesday, December 24 - Research rooms close at 1 pm for Christmas Day

  • Thursday, December 25 - Christmas Day

  • Wednesday, December 31 - Research rooms close at 1 pm for New Year's Day

*This holiday is designated as "Inauguration Day" in section 6103(c) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal  employees. Federal employees in the Washington, DC, area are entitled to a holiday on the day a President is inaugurated on January 20th for each fourth year  after 1965.

**This holiday is designated as "Washington’s Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

Location

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum 
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard 
Yorba Linda, California   92886

View a map to the Library

Driving Directions

From DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES: Go south on Interstate 5 to Highway 91. Take Highway 91 east to Highway 57. Take Highway 57-North and exit Yorba Linda Boulevard. Head east (turn right) on Yorba Linda Boulevard and proceed to the Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

From LOS ANGELES AIRPORT (LAX): Take Sepulveda to Interstate 105-East to Interstate 605-South to Highway 91-East to Highway 57-North and exit Yorba Linda Boulevard. Head east (turn right) on Yorba Linda Boulevard and proceed to the Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

From SAN DIEGO: Go north on Interstate 5 to Highway 57. Take Highway 57-North and exit Yorba Linda Boulevard. Head east (turn right) on Yorba Linda Boulevard and proceed to the Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

From ANAHEIM: Take Katella Avenue to Highway 57. Take Highway 57-North and exit Yorba Linda Boulevard. Head east (turn right) on Yorba Linda Boulevard and proceed to the Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

From JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT (SNA): Head north on Highway 55. Merge onto Highway 91 and exit at Imperial Highway. Turn left and go north on Imperial Highway and proceed to Yorba Linda Boulevard. Turn left and proceed to Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

From RIVERSIDE and SAN BERNARDINO: take Highway 91 to Imperial Highway. Go north on Imperial Highway and proceed to Yorba Linda Boulevard. Turn left and proceed to Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.

Parking

Visitor parking is free.

Transportation

Public Transportation:

The Library is near the 131, 20, and 26 lines on the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) bus lines; OCTA has trip planners and a system map available.

Distance from Local Airports

• From John Wayne Airport (SNA):  20 miles
• From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX):  41 miles

Accommodations

Yorba Linda 

Country Side Suites
22677 Oakcrest Cir.
Phone: 714-921-8688
(7.15 miles)

Anaheim Hills

Best Western
5710 E. La Palma
Phone: 714-779-0252
(2.92 miles)

Fairfield Inn
201 North Via Cortez St.
Phone: (714) 921-1100
(3.75 miles)

Fullerton

Marriott 
2701 E. Nutwood Ave. (on Cal State Fullerton campus)
Phone: 714-738-7800
(4.56 miles)

Placentia

Residence Inn by Marriott
700 W. Kimberly Ave.
Phone: 714-996-0555
(5.51 miles)

Brea

Embassy Suites
900 E. Birch (behind the Brea Mall)
Phone: 714-990-6000
(5.03 miles)

Reference Appointments and Consultations

Please email nixonreference@nara.gov to schedule an appointment and virtual orientation.

You will have a virtual reference consultation with a reference staff member prior to your appointment by phone, video, and/or email. The consultations will be used to provide researchers with information about NARA’s holdings and are generally scheduled for an hour or less. Please be prepared to discuss your research needs, in as much specificity as possible.

When planning for your research visit, please:

1. Provide advance notice of your visit and research topic, if possible.
    
2. Bring some type of government issued photo identification (drivers license, passport).
    
3. Note that reproducing the Nixon White House Tapes requires researchers to bring reproduction supplies (blank CD-Rs).

Working in the Research Room

Paper, notecards, and pencils are provided by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). NARA staff must approve and stamp materials necessary for research, such as loose-leaf notes, lists, or references.

You may bring small personal items, such as hand-held wallets or coin purses into research rooms, but they are subject to inspection when you enter or leave. Items not needed for research (such as briefcases, boxes, satchels, valises, purses, or other large bags) must be placed in a locker. Staff will issue you a lock for the locker.

Researchers are encouraged to take notes using their phone, tablet, laptop, or other device. Additionally, researchers will be encouraged to limit the number of personal items they bring to a NARA facility. Hand sanitizer is not allowed in the Research Room.

Contact us if you have any questions about your research visit.

Upon your arrival at the Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, you will be greeted at the reception desk.

Security will check all bags and escort researchers to the Research Room. Museum admission is not required to conduct research. Researchers under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

1. Staff will issue you a researcher's card and discuss the general procedures for research.
    
2. After registration, you will receive an orientation by an archivist, including proper procedures for use of the materials, followed by discussion your research topic.  

Presidential Materials, including:

• Textual—staff member and office files, subject files, name files, National Security files, Federal records, Haldeman diaries, oral histories, and exit interviews
   
• Audiovisual—approximately 500,000 photographs, 700 hours of film, over 4,000 hours of "off air" video recordings, and 4,469 audio recordings
   
• Nixon White House Tapes—copies of the publicly available tapes, totaling approximately 2,371 hours
   
• Presidential and Vice Presidential Gifts—over 5,000 

Materials deeded by Richard Nixon to the National Archives in the late 1960's which were housed at the NARA Pacific Region Branch in Laguna Niguel, California. This pre-Presidential collection was transferred to Yorba Linda in August 2006.

The Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collections were deeded by the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation to the National Archives and Records Administration on July 11, 2007. These materials were returned to Richard Nixon and his estate after materials within the White House Central Files and White House Special Files (as well as the later Contested Materials) were determined to be of a personal or political nature.

The pre and post-Presidential materials, including audiovisual materials, maintained by the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation archive department after 1990 remain in the legal custody of the Foundation. They are, however, administered by the Nixon Library staff. Copyright of these materials continues to be held by the Foundation.

Richard Nixon's presidency is one of the most well-documented administrations in American history. The Nixon presidential materials collection contains approximately 4,000 separate recordings of broadcast video, nearly 4,500 audio recordings, 30,000 gifts from foreign heads of states, American citizens, and others, 300,000 still photographs, 2 million feet of film, 46 million pages of documents, and 3,700 hours of recorded presidential conversations (the famous "White House tapes").

Since 1974, these materials have been maintained by the National Archives under the authority of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservations Act (PRMPA). Congress enacted PRMPA in response to news that President Nixon, only weeks after resigning office, had concluded an arrangement with the head of the General Services Administration that would have allowed him to destroy materials in the collection. PRMPA stipulated that the documents and other materials would remain in the government's possession, and further required that the collection stay within 50 miles of Washington, D.C.

The passage of PRMPA resulted in more than two decades of litigation over the Nixon materials. Although President Nixon and his lawyers argued in a suit filed against the government that the materials were his property and that the processing of his records by the National Archives violated his constitutional rights, the Supreme Court upheld PRMPA in a 1977 decision. Following the 1979 settling of a subsequent lawsuit by President Nixon against the federal government, the National Archives released the first 12 ½ hours of tapes and transcripts related to Watergate.

Additional litigation over the processing and release of the Nixon presidential materials (including separate suits filed by former Nixon officials and by the advocacy group Public Citizen), led to the large-scale release of documents in 1987 by the National Archives; however, President Nixon blocked the release of some files, arguing that they were private or political materials unrelated to his role as president. Approximately 78,000 pages were returned to President Nixon in 1994. Approximately 98 percent of those pages have since been opened by the National Archives.

The processing of the tape recordings remained a contentious issue. A 1992 lawsuit by University of Wisconsin Professor Stanley Kutler and Public Citizen yielded a 1996 agreement by the National Archives, the Nixon estate, and Kutler and Public Citizen governing the release of the remaining tapes. To date, the National Archives has processed and opened 2,371 hours of recorded conversations.

A new chapter in the history of the Nixon presidential materials began in 2004. Congress passed an amendment to PRMPA revoking the requirement that the Nixon materials remain within the Washington metropolitan area, allowing the establishment of a federal Nixon presidential library. Allen Weinstein, who served as Archivist of the United States from 2005 to 2008, made the inclusion of the Nixon Library into the Presidential system a priority upon taking office. He successfully concluded negotiations with the private Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace to transfer control of the Yorba Linda, California facility to the federal government, thereby paving the way for the creation of the federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and the transfer of the Nixon presidential materials to Yorba Linda. The Nixon Library became part of the National Archives and Records Administration on July 11, 2007.

Upon the completion of a suitable addition to the library in spring 2010, the Nixon presidential materials, were moved to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. There, they have been unified with the pre- and post-presidential collections previously owned by the Nixon Foundation as well as a collection of documents from Richard Nixon's time as vice president that he gave to the Federal Government while he was in the White House and which had been stored in the National Archives facility in Laguna Niguel, California for more than three decades.

• For more information, see the Release Chronology, which lists important milestones in the Library's history.

The publicly available Nixon Presidential Materials in our collection either relate to Abuses of Governmental Power or to the constitutional and statutory duties of the President and his staff. We process the Nixon Presidential Materials in accordance with Federal Regulations.

Federal Regulations

Processing the materials involves performing the traditional archival functions of arrangement, description, and preservation. The archivists also review for purely "private-personal" materials, as defined in the federal regulations.

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum must adhere to the following Federal laws and regulations while processing the Nixon Presidential Materials, including:

The Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act

Nixon Public Access Regulations 36 CFR 1275

Executive Order 13526 and Declassification

1996 Tapes Settlement Agreement

Restrictions

The archivists must also review the materials for information that would compromise national security, cause an unwarranted invasion of privacy, violate an agency policy or federal statute, or compromise trade secrets.

See How the Textual Materials are Withdrawn for information about restricted materials and codes.

• Nixon Presidential textual materials are processed in accordance with the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) and its implementing regulations.  [See Also:  Federal Regulations] 
   
• Federal Records are not subject to the provisions of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (PRMPA), but are governed by Executive Order 13526, and the Privacy Act.  [See Also:  Executive Order 13526] 
   
• Donated Materials are processed in accordance with Deeds of Gift.

Donor Deeds of Gift

Individuals who own materials that, in the judgment of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), would enhance the current existing collection, may donate their personal papers to the Nixon Staff to become part of the collection.

• Donors are required to sign a deed of gift that gives legal custody of the materials to the NARA.
   
• Deeds of gift also give the donor some rights to apply restrictions to access for these materials. These restrictions are spelled out specifically in the deed and can vary for each different donation. 
   
• Standard deed restrictions state that papers and other historical materials are restricted if:
  • the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or a libel of a living person
  • the materials are specifically authorized under criteria established by statute or Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such statute or Executive order.
• In most cases, materials donated to the Nixon Staff have few or no restrictions.

Researchers interested in donated collections should contact the Nixon Staff to determine if any restrictions exist.

Some of the Nixon Presidential Textual Materials have been withdrawn from the files that are available to the public in accordance with the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (PRMPA), its implementing regulations, and Executive Order 13526.

A Document Withdrawal Record (NA Form 1421) at the front of a file folder indicates that a document has been withdrawn from the file by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Restriction Codes

The following eight restriction classifications are criteria under which the National Archives will withdraw material from public availability:

A   –  Release would violate a Federal statute or agency policy

B   –  National security classified information

• If the Document Withdrawal Record shows that the reason for withdrawal is restriction code "B" (national security or foreign government information), you may request a Mandatory Declassification Review of the item. Note that the Mandatory Declassification Review Request process applies only to restriction code "B" material.

  Declassification of materials from the NSC Institutional Files, which are subject to the Presidential Records Act, can be requested through the Freedom of Information Act.

C   –  Pending or approved claim that release would violate an individual's rights

D   –  Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy or a libel of a living person

E   –  Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information

F   –  Release would disclose investigatory information compiled for law enforcement purposes

G   –  Withdrawn and returned private and personal material

H   –  Withdrawn non-historical material

Other Restrictions 

• 1978 Presidential Records Act (PRA) – Records withdrawn under the statutes of the PRA remain closed for a period of twelve years following the end of the former President's administration. 
   
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – Records withdrawn under the FOIA remain closed for longer and more variable periods of time. 

Most of the documents closed under the restrictions of the PRA and the FOIA relate to national security information, confidential advice between the President and his advisors or between such advisors, or information regarded as a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Items removed from a collection are listed on withdrawal sheets placed in the open file. These sheets cite PRA and/or FOIA restrictions applied.

To request a re-review of items withdrawn under any other restriction codes, consult the Library Director

• By Mail:
  
  Director, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
  18001 Yorba Linda Blvd.
  Yorba Linda, CA   92886 
   
• or by email: nixonreference@nara.gov 
   
• According to Federal Regulations, some of the withdrawn documents cannot be re-reviewed.

Re-review of Presidential textual materials withdrawn due to national security may be requested through the mandatory declassification review provisions of Executive Order 13526.

To make a Mandatory Review request:

1. Download NA Form 14020
    
   • PDF Format
   • DOC Format
      
2. Complete Sections I, II, and III 
    
   1. Copy the information from the Document Withdrawal Record into Sections II and III.

3. Email the completed NA Form 14020 to nixonreference@nara.gov or mail it to the Nixon Presidential Library in California
    

   Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
   18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
   Yorba Linda, CA 92886

How Requests for Mandatory Declassification Review are Processed

The Presidential Libraries Mandatory Review Request form (NA Form 14020) should be used when submitting a request for a mandatory declassification review in accordance with Section 3.5 of Executive Order 13526. The requestor should fill out section I to provide contact information. Sections II and III should be completed by the requestor using the information provided on the document withdrawal record (NA Form 14021). The documents identified on the request form should be from one folder only. If all documents requested from a single folder cannot be listed on a single form, use additional forms as necessary.  If you are requesting documents from more than one folder, use a separate request form for each folder, even if the folders are from the same box. The Nixon Presidential Library may, at its discretion, divide requests and assign separate case numbers in order to facilitate handling by the reviewing agencies.

Once the Nixon Presidential Library receives a Mandatory Review (MR) request, it will be processed as follows:

1. The Nixon Presidential Library will submit copies to the originating agency and/or other agencies that have primary subject matter interest in the document.
    
2. Each agency that has primary subject matter interest will review the document and advise the Nixon Presidential Library of its decision.
    
3. After all agency responses have been received by the Nixon Presidential Library, the requestor will be notified of the results of the agencies’ declassification reviews. Documents will be released in accordance with Section 104 of Title I of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA, 44 USC 2111, note) and regulations governing access to the Nixon Presidential Materials (36 CFR 1275.56).
    
4. If an agency denies a request for declassification, the requestor may appeal this decision to the agency's appellate authority through the Nixon Presidential Library. The Nixon Presidential Library will provide the requestor with appeal instructions in its notification letter prior to public release. An appeal of a sanitized or exempted document must be received by the Nixon Presidential Library within 60 days of the document’s public release.
    
5. If the agency reviews the document on appeal and determines that more information may be released without harm to national security, the document will be released in accordance with the regulations governing access to the Nixon Presidential Materials (36 CFR 1275.56) at the next scheduled PRMPA opening. The requestor then has the right to appeal the agency’s determination to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) within 60 days of the document’s public release.
    
6. If the agency reviews the document on appeal and determines that it cannot release any further information without harm to national security, the requestor will be notified immediately and informed of the right to file an appeal with the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) for final adjudication.

Limitations on the Right to Mandatory Declassification Review:

1. Documents that have been reviewed by an agency with declassification authority and exempted from declassification may not be resubmitted for declassification review until two years from the date of an agency's final determination. The two year rule applies regardless of whether the agency reviewed the document as a mandatory declassification review in accordance with Section 3.5 of Executive Order 13526 or as a systematic declassification review in accordance with Section 3.4 the Order.
    
2. Only those requestors identified at the time the Mandatory Review (MR) request is submitted for agency review will have the right to appeal an agency’s final determination.
    
3. The document withdrawal record (NA Form 14021) will indicate whether a Mandatory Review (MR) request has been received for a document. Requests for documents that have already been submitted for agency review will not be assigned a new case number, but the requestor will be notified when documents are scheduled for public release.

We appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Heddon at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California:

Email:     melissa.heddon@nara.gov (Subject: Mandatory Review)

Phone:    714-983-9120

Mail: 
Melissa Heddon
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA 92886