Project Blue Book Administrative Files, 1947–1969 — NARA Record Group 341

NARA Collection landing 1940s Official link verified

Summary

AI-assisted summary — not an official document and not authoritative. It condenses the machine-extracted text; the original is the only authoritative source. Generated by summary:claude-opus-4-8@v1; last reviewed 2026-06-02.

The administrative files of Project Blue Book (1947–1969), the U.S. Air Force program that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. Held in National Archives Record Group 341, the series includes correspondence, staff studies, and status reports.

Project Blue Book was the U.S. Air Force program that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects between 1947 and 1969, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This series comprises its administrative files — including correspondence, staff studies, status reports, and related material, as described by the National Archives. The series is part of Record Group 341 (Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force). Over the life of the program the Air Force reviewed 12,618 reports, of which 701 remained listed as "unidentified"; the project was terminated on December 17, 1969 following the University of Colorado's "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects." The archive links to the National Archives Catalog entry for this series and does not host the records.

Common questions

What was Project Blue Book?
It was the U.S. Air Force program that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects from 1947 to 1969, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
What is in the Project Blue Book administrative files?
According to the National Archives, the series includes correspondence, staff studies, status reports, and related administrative material, held in Record Group 341.
How many reports did Project Blue Book investigate?
The U.S. Air Force reviewed 12,618 reports over the program's life, of which 701 remained listed as unidentified. The project ended on December 17, 1969.

Source & Classification

Record metadata

Record type
Collection landing
Decade
1940s
Review status
published
Publication status
published

Official source link

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/595175

Documents are linked to official source pages; copyright and license notes are recorded per source. This archive does not embed PDFs or videos.

Topics

Cite this record

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). "Project Blue Book Administrative Files, 1947–1969 — NARA Record Group 341". 1940s. Official source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/595175. Cataloged by the independent UAP Records Archive (not an official or government source): https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/nara-rg341-blue-book-administrative-files/.

BibTeX

@misc{uaprecords_nara-rg341-blue-book-administrative-files,
  title  = {Project Blue Book Administrative Files, 1947–1969 — NARA Record Group 341},
  author = {National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)},
  year   = {1940s},
  howpublished = {Official source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/595175},
  note   = {Cataloged by the independent UAP Records Archive — not an official or government source},
  url    = {https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/nara-rg341-blue-book-administrative-files/}
}

Evidence

License note (source-level)

U.S. Government records (U.S. Air Force), generally public domain under 17 U.S.C. §105; held in NARA Record Group 341 (Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff)). Referenced via the official National Archives Catalog entry only; not self-hosted by this archive.

Archivist note

This series comprises the administrative files of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force program that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects from 1947 to 1969. According to the National Archives, the series includes correspondence, staff studies, status reports, and related administrative material, and is part of Record Group 341 (Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff)). This archive links to the official National Archives Catalog entry and does not self-host the records.

Uncertainty / Limits

Archive state (this release)

Record status
Official link verified
Review status
published
Publication status
published
Archive URL
Not archived in U3
Local copy
Not stored in U3
Summary
Not published
Translation
Not published

U3 does not download or locally store source files.

Translation

Translation: not published in this release.

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