For information about the AFHRA, access to the facility, rules and policies for the reading room and for handling historical documents, and the agency's holdings of unit histories and special collections, please visit the Welcome page.

The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for Air Force historical documents. The Agency's collection, begun in Washington, DC, during World War II, moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional military education students, the faculty, visiting scholars, and the general public. It consists today of over 70,000,000 pages devoted to the history of the service, and represents the world's largest and most valuable organized collection of documents on US military aviation.

The Archives at the Air Force Historical Research Agency (pamphlet)

Monday-Friday
8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Central Time Zone

AFHRA
600 Chennault Circle
Maxwell AFB, AL
36112-6424

(334) 953-5697

AF History and Museums Program Development Courses

The AFHRA website migrated to a new content management system (CMS). During the migration, hundreds of links were broken. Links are being fixed as fast as possible. If you need a particular page or document, write AFHRA.News@us.af.mil and the link will be corrected and sent to you as quickly as possible.

Western Union is also accepted, but contact the Agency first for instructions.

Please send an e-mail to afhra.news@us.af.mil or submit the Contact Us form for a quote.

Potential visitors to the AFHRA are very strongly encouraged to contact the Agency to let us know when you plan to arrive and how long you plan to stay. We will attempt to accommodate all visitors, but security is tight and "drop-in" visitors may be denied entry, at least until the Agency staff can make the appropriate arrangements. Contact the Agency through email at AFHRA.NEWS@us.af.mil or call (334) 953-5697.

For additional information, see the Welcome page.

Archival Requests

Freedom of Information Act Requests

The Air Force Historical Research Agency is charged with collecting and preserving copies of historical materials of archival significance. This means that all documentation in the collection is relevant to the history of the Air Force and is significant enough to warrant permanent preservation. Limited space makes it imperative that only documents of the greatest historical significance are included. Therefore, the following information is a useful guide when determining what to send to the AFHRA.

Please do not send items such as flags, streamers, ribbons, medals, plaques, trophies, uniforms, instruments, aeronautical material, museum pieces, displays, and the like. These should be sent to the National Museum of the Air Force. Books, newspapers, and magazines are not accessionable either as they are usually archived elsewhere. Documents of a purely technical nature are collected by the Defense Technical Documentation Center and not held at the AFHRA. If you are sending photographs with your collection please ensure that they are labeled as accurately as possible. Remove all home addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security Numbers from each item. This will ensure that the public, to include you, has access to these materials.

Boxes that do not arrive in the above condition will be returned to the sender. Coordinate your shipment by sending an e-mail to AFHRA.News@us.af.mil or submitting a Contact Us form. You can also call (334) 953-3157/2959.