When can I appeal decisions about access to donated historical materials?
36 C.F.R. § 1256.36
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) If you wish to appeal a denial of access from the director or his designated representative in implementing the provisions of a donor's deed of gift, you may write a letter addressed to the Deputy Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. The Deputy Archivist, the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, and the Assistant Archivist for Records Services—Washington, DC, or their designated representatives, compose the Board of Review for appeals relating to donated historical materials.
(b) The board's decision is final. If the board cannot make a determination on your request within 30 working days of receipt, NARA informs you of the reason for the delay. If the board determines that a document should remain closed, you may not file a new appeal for two years. Similarly, you may not file an appeal on documents in collections that have been open for research for less than 2 years.
(c) In some cases, the donor or his representative may reserve the right to determine whether the donor's materials, a series, or a document or portions of it should remain closed; you cannot appeal such decisions.
(d) For information on filing appeals for requests made under mandatory review of White House originated information, see § 1260.62 of this chapter.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026