Overview
The Kennedy Library houses more than 400 collections of personal papers, presidential records, institutional records, and White House staff files that document the careers and activities of: President Kennedy and his administration; Kennedy family members, friends, and associates; selected institutional bodies; and notable contemporaries. The personal papers of early Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) are also available to researchers.
The John F. Kennedy Papers, the Library’s largest collection, is arranged into three sub-collections, two of which – Pre-Presidential and Presidential Papers – are further divided into sub-files containing their own finding aids:
The President’s Office Files and the National Security Files – both sub-files of the larger John F. Kennedy Presidential Papers – are the most frequently researched materials at the Kennedy Library.
Collection development policy
Learn more about our general collection development policy as well as our RPCV collection development policy.
Digital collections
A growing number of textual collections has been digitized in full or in part and may be browsed from this page: browse digital collections.
For more information please contact Kennedy.Library@nara.gov or 617.514.1629.