Boston, MA – It need not be St. Patrick’s Day to take pride in one’s Irish ancestry. A stop at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston will remind any visitor of the important role Irish Americans have played in the history of the country.
Celebrate! – Free performances for children
On St. Patrick’s Day - Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 10:30 a.m., the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will host Triptych and the Kieran Jordan Dancers for a special Celebrate! performance for children. This lively trio featuring Laura Risk, Paddy League, and Kieran Jordan presents traditional Irish music and dance. Discover the history and folklore of these traditions and enjoy the mesmerizing performance of the Kieran Jordan Dancers, a popular Boston-based Irish step dance company. Practice your best Irish jig and don’t forget to wear green!
All Celebrate! performances are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. For reservations, please call (617) 514-1646 or email JFKcelebrate@nara.gov. Space is available on a first come first serve basis and children must be accompanied by an adult. For directions or further information on this or any other Kennedy Library program, visit the Kennedy Presidential Library Web page at www.jfklibrary.org.
In the Museum
Also on St. Patrick’s Day, the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum invites families to visit the special exhibit, A Journey Home - John F. Kennedy and Ireland. This exhibit explores President Kennedy’s relationship to his ancestral homeland, featuring a large selection of never-before-seen material from the Museum Collection including gifts presented to the president by the people of Ireland as well as other artifacts, documents, photographs and film footage relating to his Irish heritage and his June 26-29, 1963 state visit to the country of his ancestors. Among the items displayed in the exhibit are a silver goblet made in Dublin in 1805; an 1850 edition of the Douay English translation of the Holy Bible brought to America from Ireland by John F. Kennedy’s forebears, on which he took his oath as President of the Unites States; the sword of John Barry, a founder of the U.S. Navy and former commander of the USS United States; the Freedom of Wexford Chest, a gilt silver chest naming President Kennedy an Honorary Freeman of Wexford; and the original Treaty of Ormonde, a treaty between the Earle of Ormonde and John O. Kennedy and those of his nation, dated March 5, 1336. President Kennedy relished his Irish heritage, and during his historic visit to Ireland remarked to the people of Limerick, “This is not the land of my birth but it is the land for which I hold the greatest affection.”
Museum Gift Shop
The Museum gift shop will feature special items for St. Patrick’s Day. Items include: hand made pottery from Shannon County Clare, Ireland; books; clothing and much more.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
One of Boston’s most popular destinations for visitors from all nations, the architectural masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei sits on a 10-acre waterfront site on Columbia Point offering panoramic views of Boston’s skyline and Harbor Islands.
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.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization.