The National Archives has posted a massive batch of government records related to Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance, though the myriad of materials left longtime researchers of the case largely unimpressed. The sizeable release of documents fulfilled a late September order from President Trump wherein he called for his administration to declassify and share with the public any and all information concerning the pioneering pilot, "her final trip, and everything else about her." A press release detailing the publication of the approximately 4,600 files on Friday explained that the files feature "reports, maps, messages, and other documents tracing Earhart's final flight and the initial search in the immediate days following her disappearance."

Alas, while the information in the records may sound tantalizing, the release was met with a proverbial yawn from seasoned Earhart investigators. One such researcher was Richard Gillespie, whose organization, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, has spent decades searching for the pioneering pilot's lost plane. "A lot of the really good stuff on Earhart is not in the National Archives," he told The New York Times, "we've found it in other places and other archives and when we find stuff we put it up on our website." Ultimately, he expressed skepticism that there were any yet-to-be-revealed materials still being held back by the government, musing, "it’s all out there."

In a testament to the underwhelming nature of the information contained in the document release, many media outlets have heralded the 'revelation' of Earhart's final radio transmission. However, the rather unexceptional message was simply "we are on the line 157 337 wl rept msg we wl rept…" and provided no clue as to what occurred next. That said, one interesting set of documents posted on Friday concerns an investigation into claims that Earhart was spotted in Saipan by a former US service member after her disappearance. While the National Archives indicated that additional files will be released as they are found, it would appear that on-site searches remain the best hope for solving the mystery rather combing through decades-old documents.