Prolific FOIA researcher Ernie Lazar passed away

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Ernie fought for and collected thousands of government records over the course of his life, in a quest to document right-wing movements and government repression.

Ernie Lazar, who quietly amassed huge FBI archive, dies at 77

His first request for U.S. government records was drafted on a portable typewriter in the 1970s. Then over more than four decades — and 9,000-plus letters — the archive built by a reclusive former California civil servant, 1970s disco maven and tireless document sleuth named Ernie Lazar grew to over 600,000 pages from the FBI and other agencies.

The world of Mr. Lazar’s trove is full of suspicions, double-dealings and opportunists. There are references to informants and surveillance, groups on watch lists and Americans viewed as “un-American,” far-right propagandists and suspected leftist “rabble rousers” in an FBI dossier.

Bit by bit, Mr. Lazar also helped shed light on some fundamental questions — essentially who was doing what to whom — including much of the 37 years of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI spanning the 1950s Cold War paranoia, the civil rights showdowns and the rise of nativist groups such as the John Birch Society.

Lazar compiled one of the largest public libraries of FBI records I've ever encountered. His collection is more impressive than many universities and libraries. It's available over on the Internet Archives.

Lazar is a great example of how one person, even living in relative obscurity, can make a large impact on the world.

This is a statement he wrote that was posted online in September 2022:


Ernie Lazar, "Journey"