MKUltra Subproject 19

Subproject 19 of Project MKULTRA paid for a person to expand a manual on magic tricks. The work ran from late 1953 into 1954. The total cost was 1,800.00 dollars, billed as twelve working weeks at 150.00 dollars per week. The name of the writer is redacted in the surviving paperwork.

The manual taught how to use a magician's art to carry out covert work, such as the secret delivery of materials to people who did not know what was happening. A memo dated November 11, 1953 lists the manual's five sections: bases for performing tricks, tricks with pills, tricks with loose solids, tricks with liquids, and tricks for getting small objects in secret. The writer proposed two new sections, one for methods adapted for a woman and one for methods used when two or more people work together.

The file was prepared under a previous Subproject 4, and the new work fell under Subproject 19. Sidney Gottlieb, Chief of the Chemical Division, TSS, signed the approval memos. The paperwork includes a cost estimate, an invoice for 750.00 dollars covering several weeks of work in January, February, and March 1954, and a memorandum receipt for a check. A handwritten note on the first page reads Project Cloud.