The original Kennedy autopsy photos at the National Archives are not open to the public. They are physically held at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, but a 1966 deed of gift from the Kennedy family restricts access, and neither the 1992 assassination records law nor the March 2025 declassification order changed that. For almost every research purpose, the detailed forensic descriptions and drawings already in the public record will answer the question you came with.
Why the Originals Are Restricted
The photographs and X-rays took an unusual path into federal custody. After the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital on the night of November 22, 1963, the Secret Service held the materials. In 1965, Senator Robert F. Kennedy asked the Secret Service to transfer them to a Kennedy family representative, and the agency did.1The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Kennedy Autopsy Photos Not Subject to Disclosure Under FOIA The family then donated them to the National Archives on October 29, 1966, through a formal deed of gift that attached access conditions lasting through the lifetime of the surviving members of President Kennedy’s immediate family.2National Security Agency. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, Senate Report 102-328
Because the materials arrived as a private donation rather than as ordinary government records, federal courts ruled they were not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. A Kennedy family representative retains a gatekeeping role over access.
Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 to force the release of assassination-related documents held across the federal government. The statute carved out the autopsy materials explicitly. Section 3 defines “assassination record” to exclude “the autopsy records donated by the Kennedy family to the National Archives pursuant to a deed of gift regulating access to those records, or copies and reproductions made from such records.” Section 11 adds that the Act yields to “deeds governing access to or transfer or release of gifts and donations of records to the United States Government.”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Public Law 102-526, President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992
On March 17, 2025, President Trump directed the release of all records previously withheld for classification reasons within the JFK Assassination Records Collection.4National Archives. JFK Assassination Records – 2025 Documents Release The autopsy photographs and X-rays are not withheld on classification grounds. They are restricted by a private deed of gift, which the 2025 directive does not override.
What Is Publicly Available Instead
A lot of what people expect to find in the photographs has already been described, measured, and drawn by qualified forensic experts who examined the originals.
The Warren Commission’s autopsy report, Commission Exhibit No. 387, has been digitized and is available through the National Archives.5National Archives. The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection It contains the original findings of the three Bethesda pathologists, with wound locations, measurements, and conclusions about bullet trajectories.
More detailed still is the House Select Committee on Assassinations forensic pathology panel report, published in 1978 as Volume VII of the HSCA proceedings. A nine-member panel of forensic pathologists reviewed the actual autopsy photographs and X-rays and produced an extensive public report. It includes drawings of wound locations, reproductions of the autopsy descriptive sheet, diagrams of bullet trajectories through the skull and thorax, and close-up descriptions keyed to specific images in the restricted collection. The panel also authenticated the photographs, concluding they were taken of President Kennedy at his autopsy and had not been altered.
Between those two reports, most substantive questions about the medical evidence have public answers. NARA will expect a researcher to have worked through them before considering a request for the originals.
What the Restricted File Contains
A 1966 inspection report inventoried what came in under the deed of gift. The photographic collection includes 25 black-and-white negatives (18 with corresponding prints and 7 without), 26 color transparencies, and 27 color negatives. The images document the external wounds, the cranial damage, the tracheotomy incision, and the body from multiple angles. The file also holds 14 X-ray negatives in two sizes.
The collection was originally understood to include tissue slides, paraffin blocks, and biological specimens prepared during the autopsy. The HSCA panel reported in 1978 that most of the microscopic materials could not be located and urged a vigorous effort to determine their fate. The brain, examined in a supplementary autopsy procedure, has also been reported missing from the collection for decades.
How to Request Access if You Still Need It
If the published reports genuinely do not answer your question, you can submit a written request to view the originals at the National Archives at College Park. NARA’s guidance for restricted physical exhibits requires three things:6National Archives. Frequently Asked Questions About JFK Assassination Records
- Identify the specific exhibits, photographs, or X-rays you need to examine. A blanket request will not be considered.
- Show that you have already examined the available photographs, drawings, measurements, and descriptions of those items.
- Explain your research objectives and why they can only be met by direct observation of the originals.
For the autopsy materials, the deed of gift adds a step beyond the standard process. Access is controlled with the involvement of a Kennedy family representative.7Assassination Records Review Board. Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board, Chapter 6, Part II The request goes through NARA legal counsel and may involve the Department of Justice. There is no published timeline and no fee. Approval is not guaranteed, and the number of people who have viewed the originals since 1966 is very small, made up mostly of forensic panels convened by government investigations.
If access is approved, the viewing takes place in a research room at College Park under NARA supervision, with electronic surveillance in the room. You should not expect to physically handle the originals.8National Archives. Information for Researchers
Penalties for Unauthorized Reproduction
Federal law imposes serious consequences for tampering with records in government custody. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2071, anyone who willfully conceals, removes, or destroys a federal record faces up to three years in prison, a fine, or both.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2071 – Concealment, Removal, or Mutilation Generally A federal employee who does the same forfeits their office and is disqualified from holding any federal office. NARA regulations reinforce these prohibitions and reference 18 U.S.C. § 641 (theft of government property) alongside § 2071.10eCFR. 36 CFR Part 1230 – Unlawful or Accidental Removal, Defacing, Alteration, or Destruction of Records Unauthorized photography or reproduction during a supervised viewing would fall within these provisions.