Alongside the newly redesigned Hoover Institution Library and Archives site (http://www.hoover.org/hila), we are proud to introduce the web site for the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Records. The site, accessible at http://www.hoover.org/rferlrecords, provides extensive information on a valuable new resource at the Hoover Institution. The web site contains news related to the collection, information about the current accessibility of the collection, information on related collections at Hoover and elsewhere, and an online version of the recent exhibit at the Herbert Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion which includes unique footage from historical documentaries dating back to 1950s. In the future, the site will provide online finding aids for those interested in researching the collection offsite. Reproductions of selected photographs and documents from the collection add color to the site while also providing users with a sense of the kinds of materials available for research.

The RFE/RL collection is presently available on a limited basis. The audio section of the broadcast archive, currently consisting of some 80,000 reel-to-reel tapes, must be transferred to a more stable and durable medium before it can be made available to the public. The corporate records will not be made available to the public until 2003. The remainder of the collection, including the paper portion of the broadcast archive and the public relations records, will be made available as they are processed. Please visit this site for up-to-date information or contact RFE/RL collection archivist Anatol Shmelev (Shmelev@Hoover.Stanford.EDU).