In general, there is no restriction on access to the John J. McCloy Papers for research use. Selected items may be restricted to protect the privacy rights of individuals or for other legal reasons. Particularly fragile or valuable items have been replaced with copies. Material from other collections, which may be found in the McCloy Papers, cannot be duplicated, as indicated.

All copyrights held by John J. McCloy or his heirs were transferred to Amherst College along with the papers. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of other copyrights. Requests for permission to publish material from the papers should be directed to the Archivist of the College.

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in John J. McCloy Papers [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

The John J. McCloy Papers were given to Amherst College by McCloy through a deed of gift executed in July of 1985. Prior to their physical transfer to the Amherst College Archives, roughly half of the papers underwent a national security review by the Department of State. The bulk of these arrived at the College in May of 1986, with several batches sent later following clearance by the relevant government agency.

Processing of this portion of the collection began in April 1986 and was completed in April 1990. In June 1990, after McCloy's death, the Archives received a second installment to the Papers. The processing of this addition required item-level attention, as the material had not been reviewed by the State Department. The Archives coordinated reviews by both the State Department and legal counsel. In the process, detailed listings and cross-references were created, to indicate the specific installment to which material belonged and to facilitate research use.

The papers were received in considerable disarray, with little evidence of their original order. Wherever possible, original groupings of items and folders were retained; however, the current organization of the papers was for the most part imposed during processing.