Washington DC – At a special ceremony held on November 30, 2006 in Washington D.C., Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein honored Ronald Whealan of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for Outstanding Customer Service at the annual State of the Archives Address and Awards Ceremony.
Ronald Whealan, who lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, was honored with the Outstanding Customer Service to External National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Customers for his work on the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s new state-of-the-art website.
“Ron Whealan's outstanding contribution has made a qualitative difference to thousands of researchers searching for information from the Kennedy Library,” said Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States. “I am very proud that the National Archives has employees as committed as Ron.”
The launching of the new website is a capstone to 13 years of work. In 1993, through Mr. Whealan’s creative vision, the Kennedy Library was the first Presidential Library to launch a website. On his own initiative, he developed an agreement with the University of Massachusetts Boston to post an electronic copy of the Library’s guide to holdings, free of charge, on the University’s server. Over time, and due to Ron Whealan’s perseverance, the Kennedy Library site grew and introduced cutting edge technologies such as the use of live-audio streams allowing visitors to listen to President Kennedy’s secret White House recordings and excerpts from his most famous speeches.
The new Kennedy Presidential Library website was designed by Edwin Schlossberg, husband of Caroline Kennedy, and principle of ESI Design, one of the world’s foremost experiential design firms whose work includes the Ellis Island Visitors website. The technical development of the site was overseen by BigBad, an award-winning Boston-based interactive agency. Ron Whealan was a key figure in making this new site become a reality. Working with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation which funded its development, Mr. Whealan was the sole NARA employee to undertake this massive project. In large part, because of Mr. Whealan’s work visitors to the new site can now:
- access primary historical resources and documents including audio files of President Kennedy’s major speeches, digital scans of actual historical documents, photographs and images from the Kennedy White House, and narratives that provide a beginner’s introduction to such topics as the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, Jacqueline Kennedy’s Restoration of the White House, the Peace Corps, the Space Race, and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
- travel back in time to the early 1960’s and experience first hand each of President Kennedy’s thousand days in office though the interactive White House Diary – a daily schedule of President John F. Kennedy that includes digital scans of his actual Appointment Diary for any given day as well as any available video, audio, or photographic documentation of that particular day’s events.
- take a Virtual Museum Tour and experience many of the Museum’s dynamic 25 multi-media exhibits that come to life through the actual voice of President John F. Kennedy;
- discover through the Interactive Timeline what other major historical, cultural and worldwide events were taking place during the Presidency of John F. Kennedy;
- make nominations online for the annual John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™ and the New Frontier Award™;
- make reservations online for the Kennedy Library Forums and read transcripts from past forums;
- submit essays online for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest™;
- shop online from the Museum Store;
- make on-line donations to the Kennedy Library Foundation to support the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum;
- download finding guides to the rich textual archives of the Ernest Hemingway Collection;
- listen to more than 50 speeches delivered by President Kennedy; and
- explore and download curricula and other teaching materials that bring to life the dynamic history of the early 1960’s.
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.
The Museum at the John F. 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.