For Immediate Release: July 13, 2005
Further information: Brent R. Carney (617) 514-1662, Brent.Carney@JFKLFoundation.org
Boston MA – Today the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum announced the arrival of previously missing documents, artifacts, and other historical material from the presidency of John F. Kennedy. These items were recently recovered by the National Archives and Records Administration, on behalf of the Kennedy Presidential Library, from the estate of Robert L. White.
Robert White obtained the historical material belonging to the American people from Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln, President Kennedy’s secretary, who improperly removed and then sold or gave away the material. Mrs. Lincoln was entrusted with the responsibility of safekeeping President Kennedy’s personal effects, historical items and writings. Rather than turning over all of these materials to the National Archives and President Kennedy’s family, Mrs. Lincoln kept a large number of these items and eventually gave or sold them to Mr. White.
These priceless items include thousands of pages of documents and artifacts from John F. Kennedy’s career as a public servant. Some of the items recovered from Mr. White’s estate include:
Hardbound First Edition of Why England Slept:
Why England Slept by John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940. This was President Kennedy’s personal copy which he kept in a drawer of his desk in the Oval Office.
Eagle Bookends:
These bookends were used in John F. Kennedy’s Senate office as well as in the Oval Office. The two bookends are in the form of gilded eagles with their wings spread and have five gold stars around the base.
Holder for Bill Signing Pens:
This wooden block has 72 small holes to hold pens used by the President in signing legislation, executive orders and treaties, and a large hole to hold an ink bottle. The block has purple felt on the base.
Ink Bottle and Esterbrook Bill Signing Pens:
The 29 Esterbrook pens were used by the President to sign bills, orders and treaties. There is also one used 2lf.oz. bottle of Sheaffer blue black Scrip ink.
Light Brown Suede Glove:
This left hand suede glove matches a right hand suede glove held at the Kennedy Presidential Library. The gloves were believed to be worn by President Kennedy at his Inauguration ceremony on January 20, 1961.
Piece of Wood from 1961 Inauguration Stand:
This piece of wood, originally from the floor of the U.S. Senate, was incorporated into the platform for President Kennedy’s 1961 Inauguration ceremony. It is believed that this piece of floor is where Kennedy stood while taking the Presidential Oath of Office. The wood is accompanied and documented by a signed letter from the Architect of the United States Capitol.
Map of Cuba:
Also recovered by NARA in a separate agreement reached last fall is the map of Cuba used and annotated by President Kennedy when he was first briefed by the CIA on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mr. White obtained the map from Mrs. Lincoln and subsequently sold it. This map was found on the internet by Peter Kornbluh, Senior Analyst with the National Security Archive. When Mr. Kornbluh noticed that the map was for sale on the internet, he informed Gary M. Stern, General Counsel for the National Archives and Records Administration. The Justice Department subsequently filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Archives and secured the map’s return last fall.
Papers and Documents :
Also recovered were thousands of pages of National Security Documents, letters, notes, memorandum and other written material.
All of the items recovered will be processed by archives staff at the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. After processing is completed, all materials which are declassified, will be made available to the public as part of the permanent collection of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s Archives include 48 million pages of documents from the collections of 340 individuals, organizations, or government agencies; oral history interviews with 1,300 people; and more than 30,000 books. The Audiovisual Archives administers collections of more than 200,000 still photographs, 7,550,000 feet of motion picture film, 1,200 hours of video recordings, over 7,000 hours of audio recordings and 500 original editorial cartoons.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through scholarship, educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.
General admission to the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is $10.00. Admission for seniors over the age of 62 and college students with appropriate identification is $8.00, and for children ages 13-17, $7.00. Children ages 12 and under are admitted for free.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the exceptions of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The Library is located in the Dorchester section of Boston, off Morrissey Boulevard, next to the campus of the University of Massachusetts/Boston. Parking is free. There is free shuttle-service from the JFK/UMass T Stop on the Red Line. The Museum is fully handicapped accessible. For more information, call (866) JFK-1960.