Waco Branch Davidian Disaster, Tex., 1993

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

These files contain documents produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its agencies, the FBI and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The bulk of documents are FBI documents, including major event and monitor logs, negotiations between the FBI and Mount Carmel occupants, interviews and statements of those involved in the events, and VHS tapes of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) recordings of April 19, 1993.

Series Description From the Series: The first series includes documents related to varioussiege and standoff incidents. The majority of documents are news releases and articles. Included in this series is the May 13, 1985 siege of the MOVE organization’s house in West Philadelphia that ended in the bombing of the house by police later the same day; the May 17, 1974 LAPD and Symbionese Liberation Army shootout(located in the same file as the MOVE documents); prison riots in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1987and in Talladega,...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

These files contain documents produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its agencies, the FBI and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The bulk of documents are FBI documents, including major event and monitor logs, negotiations between the FBI and Mount Carmel occupants, interviews and statements of those involved in the events, and VHS tapes of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) recordings of April 19, 1993.

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

These files contain documents produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its agencies, the FBI and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The bulk of documents are FBI documents, including major event and monitor logs, negotiations between the FBI and Mount Carmel occupants, interviews and statements of those involved in the events, and VHS tapes of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) recordings of April 19, 1993.

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

These files contain documents produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its agencies, the FBI and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The bulk of documents are FBI documents, including major event and monitor logs, negotiations between the FBI and Mount Carmel occupants, interviews and statements of those involved in the events, and VHS tapes of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) recordings of April 19, 1993.

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

These files contain documents produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its agencies, the FBI and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). The bulk of documents are FBI documents, including major event and monitor logs, negotiations between the FBI and Mount Carmel occupants, interviews and statements of those involved in the events, and VHS tapes of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) recordings of April 19, 1993.

Series Description From the Series: Submission queries and correspondence with editors or fellow writers constitute the bulk of this series. One exception of note is a file of letters between Reavis and Timothy McVeigh and others regarding an idea Reavis had for a book on the Oklahoma City bombing and the right-wing militia movement.The first sub-series, Submission Files, preserves the alphabetical filing order and titles of a file box Reavis used for submissions to editors and presses, mainly in the mid-1970s. As...

Series Description From the Series:

The Personal series chronicles a few of the awards Reavis has won and some of his civil rights work, among other aspects of his life. Publications Reavis collected over the years are included in a sub-series. Reavis’ curriculum vitae, compiled and donated in 2006, is in this series, and includes complete lists of his professional experience, awards won, and books and major articles published.

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: These files are titled and arranged (alphabetically) according to Reavis’ titles and arrangement. As a result, not all folder titles are entirely indicative of their contents. This sub-series is comprised of general subject files whose contents mostly pertain directly to research for The Ashes of Waco. However, some documents post-date the book, as Reavis continued his research work in the years that followed. The sub-series is dated according to when Reavis...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

Also titled and arranged alphabetically by title, according to how we received them, the research notebooks are additionally very similar to the subject files in that they pertain directly to Reavis’ research for his book. Most files are photocopied books that were bound with plastic comb binders and plain covers, with the titles written on the front. This sub-series is dated according to when Reavis is likely to have accumulated the copies, not by the dates of the original documents.

Series Description From the Series: In 1987, on assignment from Texas Monthly, Dick Reavis traveled every highway mile of Texas, according to the official DOT map (he discovered unmapped roads and stretches of roads during his travels). As a result he wrote articles about his experience, took slide photographs, gathered postcards and souvenirs, and kept meticulous notes on his travels. All these records and more constitute Series II. Reavis divided Texas into 48 regions, and organized almost...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: These files are titled and arranged (alphabetically) according to Reavis’ titles and arrangement. As a result, not all folder titles are entirely indicative of their contents. This sub-series is comprised of general subject files whose contents mostly pertain directly to research for The Ashes of Waco. However, some documents post-date the book, as Reavis continued his research work in the years that followed. The sub-series is dated according to when Reavis...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: This large subseries is composed of legal documents from various trials stemming from the siege. The first trial, when the federal government prosecuted eleven Branch Davidians in 1994, is well documented, with over eight boxes of trial transcriptions. Reavis was a reporter at this trial in San Antonio and wrote about it in his book. Because of his expertise on Waco, Reavis served on the Timothy McVeigh defense team in 2000, and produced more subject files and gathered other legal documents,...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: These files are titled and arranged (alphabetically) according to Reavis’ titles and arrangement. As a result, not all folder titles are entirely indicative of their contents. This sub-series is comprised of general subject files whose contents mostly pertain directly to research for The Ashes of Waco. However, some documents post-date the book, as Reavis continued his research work in the years that followed. The sub-series is dated according to when Reavis...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: These files are titled and arranged (alphabetically) according to Reavis’ titles and arrangement. As a result, not all folder titles are entirely indicative of their contents. This sub-series is comprised of general subject files whose contents mostly pertain directly to research for The Ashes of Waco. However, some documents post-date the book, as Reavis continued his research work in the years that followed. The sub-series is dated according to when Reavis...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: These files are titled and arranged (alphabetically) according to Reavis’ titles and arrangement. As a result, not all folder titles are entirely indicative of their contents. This sub-series is comprised of general subject files whose contents mostly pertain directly to research for The Ashes of Waco. However, some documents post-date the book, as Reavis continued his research work in the years that followed. The sub-series is dated according to when Reavis...

Series Description From the Series: The second series consists of media coverage of the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco and the events that followed. Within this series are three sub-series: Lee Hancock Articles, Other Media Coverage, and Press Releases. The Lee Hancock Articles sub-series contains clippings and photocopies of articles written by Lee Hancock for the Dallas Morning News along with a few articles written by others. The Other Media Coverage sub-series consists of news coverage...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

This subseries contains briefing documents for Attorney General Janet Reno on the events near Waco. Also included is an affidavit for a search warrant of Vernon Howell’s residence, documents related to the effects of CS gas, and a “Proposed Operations Plan.” Within this subseries is the John C. Danforth investigation report.

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series: Filed alphabetically, this subseries features Reavis’ personal correspondence with some Mount Carmel survivors and other Branch Davidians, as well as official Freedom of Information Act requests with the U.S. Department of Justice. I. Trials (boxes 42-58): This large sub-series is composed of legal documents from various trials stemming from the siege. The first trial, when the federal government prosecuted eleven Branch Davidians in 1994, is well documented, with over eight boxes of trial...

Subseries Description From the Sub-Series:

Reavis wrote a feature for the San Antonio Express-News on Gordon Novel, a man with a mysterious past and an important figure in the continuing investigations into and conspiracy theories about Waco. Novel put forth the notion, using FLIR evidence, that FBI agents were firing into the Mount Carmel Center as the tanks inserted tear gas on the morning of April 19th.