JFK Library and Museum 20th Anniversary
Celebrated with Special Exhibit of "Treasures"
Dateline: 10/13/99
"Treasures of the Kennedy Library," a new exhibit at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, opened October 9, giving the public a unique chance to see items and documents related to the President and his family--most of which have never before been on display. In an article in the John F. Kennedy Library Newsletter, museum curator Frank Rigg says, "This is all of our best stuff."
A ruby and diamond broach personally selected and purchased by President Kennedy for his wife days before his inauguration; Jacqueline Kennedy's emerald and diamond engagement ring; a personal, handwritten note of encouragement from Harry Truman to JFK; the note card Kennedy read from during his famous "Berlin Wall" speech; even the President's Oval Office coffee mug will be on display through May 1, 2000 at New England's only presidential library. Many of the exhibit's highlights can be previewed online at the Kennedy Library Web site.
Museum visitors will also get rare glimpses of gifts exchanged by the Kennedys and foreign dignitaries. They'll see Kennedy's letter to his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, asking for help in naming the book that would win him a Pulitzer prize--she obviously steered him away from "Eight Were Courageous." And, for just the first month of the exhibit, the public will get what will probably be the last chance ever to see the original draft of Kennedy's enduring "Ask not what your country can do for you" inaugural address. The document's fragile condition prohibits its continual display.
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Kennedy Library will waive admission charges on Wednesday, October 20. Regular admission fees--$8 for adults, $6 for seniors and college students, $4 for children ages 13 to 17, and free for children 12 and under--apply at other times, but there is no additional charge for the "Treasures" exhibit.
More than 5 million people have visited the Kennedy Library since it opened on October 20, 1979--it's one of Boston's most popular tourist attractions. The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum overlooks Boston Harbor at Columbia Point. Directions are available online.
The library's collection includes 8.4 million pages of the personal, congressional, and presidential papers of John F. Kennedy; 180,000 photographs; 11,000 audio recordings; 70,000 volumes of printed materials; and 8 million feet of film. It also houses more than 26 million pages of the papers of Robert F. Kennedy and more than 300 other individuals associated with the Kennedy administration and era. The Library is also the archive for 95 percent of all of Nobel prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway's manuscripts and correspondence.
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. For more information, call the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum at (617) 929-4523.
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