Operation Babylift Collection · Boulder, Utah
A diaspora-wide archival resource for origin stories. Serving those evacuated from Vietnam between 1960 and 1975, and the communities that left from 1975 to the present. The Operation Babylift Collection is the anchor. The Vietnamese diaspora departure continuum is the scope.
The records in Vietnam were destroyed. USAID no longer exists. What survived lives in scattered repositories, libraries, and private collections. The remaining records from Friends For All Children may help us piece it together. That is the gift.
A curated archival resource for origin stories across the full Vietnamese diaspora departure continuum. The Operation Babylift Collection is the anchor. Beyond it: contextual archives, external repositories, academic materials, and community documentation spanning 1960 to the present day.
Active processing of the Operation Babylift Collection under LEAP methodology. Physical arrangement and description, digitization, record reconciliation, and construction of the OBC master workbook. Every processing decision is made in relationship to the people the record belongs to.
Protocols and mechanisms for sharing Operation Babylift Collection materials with adoptees, community members, researchers, and institutional partners. LEAP consent tiers determine what can be delivered, to whom, and under what conditions. The record is a mirror. The process of handing it over is as governed as the record itself.
01 · Resource
The Vietnamese diaspora departure record spans sixty years and multiple legal and humanitarian frameworks. This resource brings together the primary holdings of the Operation Babylift Collection alongside external repositories, academic archives, and community sources that serve the full continuum — 1960 to the present day.
4,816 de-identified records. 33+ linear feet. Original Friends For All Children documents spanning the full child evacuation pipeline out of Vietnam, 1962–1975. Passenger manifests, intake records, correspondence, medical files, photographs, and administrative records. The departure end of every story. Entrusted by Sister Mary Nelle Gage.
The nation's largest and most comprehensive collection of Vietnam War-era materials outside the National Archives. 7 million pages of digitized materials including documents, photographs, oral histories, maps, and moving images. The Virtual Vietnam Archive provides free, open access to researchers worldwide.
U.S. National Archives holdings relevant to the Vietnamese departure record: USAID files, State Department cables, INS records, and military documentation from the 1960–1975 period. Official government records that form the institutional context for the OBC.
Resources serving the communities that left Vietnam from 1975 onward. Oral histories, resettlement records, community organization archives, and family documentation from receiving countries. Inclusive of all departure frameworks: humanitarian, legal, and family-based.
University library collections, peer-reviewed research, dissertations, and institutional archives documenting the Vietnamese diaspora experience. Spanning adoption studies, refugee policy scholarship, and transnational identity research across all departure periods.
Archives and institutions within Vietnam holding records relevant to the departure period and those who remained. National and provincial-level holdings, records of wartime children's welfare organizations, and documentation of communities that stayed.
02 · Archive Processing
The OBC is an active archive under ongoing processing. The work is not archival in the traditional sense — it is relational. LEAP methodology governs how records are described, linked, and made accessible, because the people these records belong to are still alive.
Physical arrangement of 33+ boxes into series and subseries. Box-level and folder-level description. Condition assessment and identification of materials requiring priority digitization.
ActiveConstruction and maintenance of the OBC master workbook. 41 sheets. Two derivative outputs: INTERNAL (full PII) and SCRUBBED (de-identified). 555 records fully processed. 4,816 de-identified records in the data layer.
Active · 41 sheetsReconciliation across source documents: USAID Report, FFAC internal files, C-5A manifests, bus lists, and litigation materials. Identification and documentation of gaps, discrepancies, and unresolved records.
OngoingDigitization of high-priority physical documents beginning with fragile originals and records with active research requests. Scanning protocol follows LEAP consent designations — not all digitized records are cleared for sharing.
In progressActive research flags tracking unresolved questions in the OBC: deceased count discrepancies, unplaced records, identity gaps, and cross-document anomalies. Flags are opened and closed as evidence is gathered.
3 open flagsEvery processed record receives a LEAP access designation: open, restricted, or closed. Designations are determined by consent tier, sensitivity of content, and the relationship between the record and the living person it documents.
Governing all recordsThe LEAP principle governing processing: the people contributing to this archive have already had their stories taken from them once. Every processing decision — what to name, what to link, what to withhold — is made with that fact present.
03 · File Delivery & Sharing
Access to the Operation Babylift Collection is governed by LEAP consent tiers. All sharing is relational, not transactional. The path to your record begins with a conversation.
If you were evacuated from Vietnam between 1960 and 1975, or believe a family member appears in the OBC, you may submit a personal record request. The LEAP process begins with an intake conversation before any records are reviewed or shared. Your record belongs to you.
Begin request ›Academic researchers, journalists, documentary makers, and institutional partners may request access to SCRUBBED or restricted materials under the LEAP research protocol. IRB framework applies. Requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Submit inquiry ›Family members of individuals who appear in the OBC — including adoptive families, birth families, and families of those lost in the C-5A crash — may submit a family record inquiry. The archive holds records for 14 receiving countries.
Begin inquiry ›Libraries, archives, universities, and cultural institutions interested in formal data-sharing agreements, co-processing arrangements, or deposit of complementary materials are invited to open a conversation. Diaspora-wide documentation requires institutional cooperation.
Open conversation ›On the LEAP consent framework: three tiers govern what is shared and with whom — community access, research access, and closed records. No record is released without a relationship. The intake conversation is not a barrier. It is the beginning of the work.