Arguably the biggest informational treasures in the Dick J. Reavis Papers is the collection of negotiation transcripts. From the first 911 call made by Branch Davidian Wayne Martin during the height of the Feb. 28 shootout, to FBI negotiator Byron Sage's loudspeaker instructions during the fiery chaos of April 19, the drama is captured in these transcribed conversations between the adversaries.
I believe we have the full set of transcripts, which were procured by Reavis during his investigation from defense attorneys. Technically one can get them from the FBI with a Freedom of
Information Act request, but from what I hear, one will have to wait a while.
Most, but not all, of these transcripts are in digital format, and many of those are already included in the digital collection. You can see what's there so far with this link: http://tinyurl.com/yeh2kmk,
or by searching "negotiation transcript" in the search bar of the
digital collection.
I have been working on adding these
lately and will continue to do so until they are all up there. They are one of
the most researcher-requested items in the collection, and I can see why. Now,
they will be fully keyword searchable, making this aspect of research much quicker
and more productive.
The other type of item most
requested are the actual negotiation recordings. Those will all eventually be
in the digital collection too, and when they are, researchers will be able to
find recorded content using the transcripts, all at their own desks at home.
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