The printed materials collection is a special library of published and unpublished literature relating to mid-20th century American history, politics, and government, centering on the life of John F. Kennedy. The collection comprises books, dissertations, conference papers, government publications, periodicals, microforms, theses, student papers, and clippings. It is intended to serve as a definitive body of Kennedy-related secondary literature. Materials are made available on-site to researchers whose information needs cannot be met by the holdings of other libraries.
The Kennedy Library's automated catalog is a dictionary catalog arranged primarily according to the Library of Congress classification system. Any item can be located by author, subject, or title. While adopting many Library of Congress classifications and subject headings, the Kennedy Library imposes special features on standard cataloging and classification to index more precisely events or issues of John F. Kennedy's life and career. The library uses over 200 specialized subject headings. For example, titles on the Cuban missile crisis are filed under the special subject heading "KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD--FOREIGN RELATIONS--CUBA, OCTOBER, 1962" rather than under the Library of Congress heading "UNITED STATES--FOREIGN RELATIONS--CUBA, OCTOBER, 1962." The heading "KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD--CIVIL RIGHTS--MISSISSIPPI" lists titles dealing with the role of the Kennedy administration in integrating the University of Mississippi. In other cases, both a Kennedy administration- specific heading as well as a standard Library of Congress heading are used. For example, a title on the history of the space program that deals significantly, but not exclusively, with the policies of the Kennedy administration may be filed under "KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD--SPACE PROGRAM and U.S.-- SPACE PROGRAM." A complete subject authority list is available. Similarly, the Kennedy Library assigns new classification numbers to works where the Library of Congress assigned number is deemed inappropriate for local needs.
The library's vertical file contains selected or noteworthy articles, student papers, and related types of printed materials that provide further coverage of events and personalities of the Kennedy years. There is a subject, author, periodical title, and chronological index to this portion of the file. The vertical file is also a valuable source of miscellaneous clippings about President Kennedy, his family, Presidential libraries, and the Kennedy Library, arranged broadly by subject matter and chronologically.
Printed materials can only be used in the research rooms. However, at the determination of the librarian, some materials may be made available through interlibrary loan.
The printed materials collection also serves as a bibliographical center for Kennedy studies. Reading lists on John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and the Kennedy family are available in the main research room. The staff can provide literature searches and bibliographical listings on request.
The following list describes the categories of books and other published or unpublished materials available at the library:
WRITINGS BY JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY:
All known works, including the rare As We Remember Joe (1945), the first printing of A Nation of Immigrants (1959), and more than 30 English-language and foreign-language editions of Profiles in Courage (1956).
BOOKS BY AND ABOUT MEMBERS OF THE KENNEDY FAMILY:
Scholarly and popular works about President Kennedy, his wife, children, parents, brothers, sisters, ancestors, and members of his extended family.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Scholarly and popular biographies of major figures of mid-20th century American history, politics, government, and culture.
KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION STUDIES:
Scholarly works reflecting the spectrum of analysis, criticism, and opinion.
WRITINGS BY PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S ASSOCIATES, APPOINTEES, OR LIBRARY DONORS:
Selected books and articles by Cabinet members, White House staff, appointees, friends, and political associates of President Kennedy, and by donors or patrons of the John F. Kennedy Library.
MATERIALS RELATING TO NATIONAL POLITICAL OR SOCIAL EVENTS AND TRENDS OF THE 1960s:
Selected scholarly and popular works on such topics as Vietnam, civil rights, youth, arms control, etc.
STUDIES RELATING TO THE PRESIDENCY:
Selected scholarly studies of elections, executive power, war powers, Presidential staffing, congressional relations, press relations, etc.
MATERIALS BASED ON KENNEDY LIBRARY HOLDINGS:
Published and unpublished works based wholly or partially on the holdings of the Kennedy Library.
DISSERTATIONS, THESES, INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PAPERS:
Selected titles that relate chiefly, though not exclusively, to political events and domestic or foreign policy issues of the Kennedy administration.
PERIODICALS:
Microfilm copies of most large-circulation American magazines for the period 1961-63 and selected individual hard-copy issues for other years.
REFERENCE WORKS:
Standard reference sources both contemporary and for the 1960s, including indexes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographical sources, bibliographies, histories, and manuals.
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS:
Documents from the Kennedy congressional and Presidential years include House and Senate reports, hearings, the Congressional Record, U.S. Treaties And Other International Agreements, Foreign Relations of the United States, the United States Code, United States Statutes At Large, departmental or agency publications, etc.
NEWSCLIPPINGS:
Scrapbooks kept by John F. Kennedy's congressional and Presidential staffs from 1946-63. Another extensive clippings collection is in the records of the Democratic National Committee (See Archives and Manuscripts).
NEWSPAPERS:
Microfilm copies of the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Boston Post, the Wall Street Journal, selected ethnic newspapers from the early 1960s, and Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports covering Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Near East for the period 1961-63.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS:
Special bodies of published and unpublished materials drawn from papers collections or donated separately to the library. These include the Arthur Price Collection of Kennedy literature, the Seymour Harris Collection on economics, the White House Gift Book Collection, the Kennedy Library Gift Book Collection, and the Bernard Fall Collection. Many titles drawn from these collections are integrated into the main research collection. Others are kept separate for further processing.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY BOOK COLLECTION:
A special library of works by and about Ernest Hemingway or his work. Includes biographies, literary criticism, dissertations, theses, articles, and clippings. Of special note are foreign-language editions of Hemingway's works, Mary Hemingway's Book Collection, and the E.R. Hagemann Book Collection.