The Library of Congress > Researchers > Search Finding Aids > John J. Walsh papers, 1933-2004
John J. Walsh papers, 1933-2004
The papers of John J. Walsh (1916- ) span the years 1933-2004, with the bulk of the material dating from 1944 to 2000. A majority of the collection consists of Walsh's research files and writings relating to the Venona project, a secret program started in 1943 by the Signal Intelligence Service of the United States Army to examine encrypted Soviet diplomatic communications. The research files are largely comprised of photocopies of Venona project documents released by the National Security Agency from 1995 to 1997. These documents are translations of messages sent among Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti (KGB) agents and operatives in Moscow, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Mexico, South America, and Australia during the 1940s and 1950s. There are also research files for an unpublished article on Matthew Silverman, a figure in the Alger Hiss case.
The writings include Walsh's unpublished memoir entitled "The Story of a Special Agent" detailing his years of service with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and as an investigator for congressional committees and executive branch agencies. Also of interest are his "write-ups" of short summaries on communists operating in the United States, including their cover names and supporting Venona project documents.