Larry W. Bryant UFO research collection

Collection

Identifier: MS 0915

Staff Only

Finding aid note: This material is stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request boxes by contacting woodson@rice.edu and allowing 24 hours retrieval time.

Scope and Contents

The Larry W. Bryant UFO research collection contains personal papers such as correspondence, photographs, and articles written by Larry Bryant, as well as papers from his participation in UFO organizations like MUFON and CAUS, including board meeting minutes, budget notes, and quarterly reports.

A large section of the collection is devoted to Bryant’s research into ufology using court cases against the government and Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain files kept from the public, as well as extensive news clippings, website printouts, articles, magazines, journals, and newsletters

Bryant was a collector of books in his areas of interest. The collection features not only hundreds of books from his collection, but also catalogues from well- and lesser-known publishing companies and bookstores that he used as sources. Books are being cataloged separately and will feature a gift note with the name Larry Bryant.

Bryant also attended a number of conferences, symposiums, and more informal events. The collection contains not only agendas and packets detailing the events themselves, but reports given by honorary attendees and flyers and memorabilia collected from a wide variety of interest-related groups in attendance.

The collection also contains audiovisual media such as cassette tapes, VHS tapes, and CDs, and oversize promotional materials such as posters and calendars.

The materials are in good condition and range in date from 1940 to 2020. Researchers interested in Ufology, Bryant’s ongoing struggle with the government, and interest groups in the ufology scene would find this collection informative.

Dates

Creation: 1920 - 2010

Creator

Bryant,, Larry W., 1938-2020 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Once processed, this material will be open for research. Please contact Woodson Research Center for more information at woodson@rice.edu.

Biographical / Historical

Larry Bryant (Feb 1938 – Oct 2020) worked in a number of civilian writing and editing roles for the Department of the Army from May 13, 1958 until his retirement in 1994. From 1958 through the 1960s, Bryant worked as a staff writer for the Office of Doctrine and Literature at the U.S. Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis, Virginia. During the 1970s, he served as a publication clerk for the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) in the U.S. Continental Army Command. Also, from the 1980s until his retirement, Bryant served as a civil service staff writer, editor and Associate Editor for ARNEWS, the U.S. Army News service, at the Pentagon.

Although he never had any kind of UFO encounter himself, since 1957, Bryant was heavily involved in the field of ufology and the movement for government disclosure of documents related to the UFO phenomena. After a number of professional reprisals due to his UFO activism, Bryant retired from federal service in June 1994. In many ways his life’s work culminated in his book UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally ‘Round Jimmy Carter’s Promise, which was published in 2015.

The majority of this collection centers on the documents and correspondence related to the multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests he filed seeking disclosure of information related to the UFO phenomenon and the many UFO centric organizations that Bryant served as a member and in various leadership roles through the decades. It also includes documents and correspondence related to the numerous court cases he filed in attempts to force federal declassification of UFO documents through court order. Accordingly, there are also many other publications, by groups and persons he was not directly affiliated with, about UFO phenomena.

Bryant’s work in ufology was an extension of a much broader activist spirit. He is a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and took part in legal cases defending the free speech rights of local high school students. Writings concerning other social issues that Bryant also felt strongly about, including the rights of persons to serve in the military regardless of their sexual orientation and his opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, are also part of this collection.