John F. Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers (#2)

An Inventory of His Pre-Presidential Papers
At the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
List of Series  
 
 

Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1946-61
Representative (1947-53) and Senator (1953-61) from Massachusetts; Presidential candidate and President-Elect (1960). This subcollection of papers reflects Representative and Senator Kennedy's major official activities. Though incomplete, (there are few documents for the 1946 congressional campaign, and many documents are missing from the House of Representatives years) it is a rich source of information on the major issues, events, themes, and legislation of the 1950s and on the 1960 Presidential campaign and transition. Series include: House Files: correspondence, cases and projects, general and legislative files, Boston office general files, fan mail, invitations, National Veterans Housing Conference 1948, polls of political opinion 1948, scrapbooks, service academy applications, speeches, Boston office thank yous. Campaign files: 1946 campaign [fragment], 1952 campaign, 1958 campaign. Senate files: cases and projects, correspondence copy file, general files, Holborn file, incoming mail, invitations, legislation, office operations, political miscellany, polls of political opinion, service academies file, speeches and the press. 1960 campaign file: campaigns by state, issues, speeches and the press. Transition files: Presidential election congratulations, staff post election correspondence, task force reports. 430 feet.

Access
Open in part.

Usage Restrictions
According to the letter of transfer 1965, copyright of these materials has been assigned to the United States.  Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.  Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.  One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.”  If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excesses of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.  This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.  The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form.  Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.

Provenance
The Pre-Presidential Files were donated to the Kennedy Library in 1965 as a part of the papers of John F. Kennedy.

Extent
About 86,000 items (458 linear feet ; 546.35 cubic feet).

Withdrawn Items
Selected folders may contain withdrawal sheets where documents, in accordance with the donor's deed of gift, were removed from the collection. These include documents which may be used to injure or harass any living person.

All withdrawn documents have been placed under seal and upon request the Kennedy Library will review any material which has been closed for a period of not less than 2 years for the purpose of opening items which no longer require restrictions. Researchers should consult the reference staff to obtain the appropriate form(s).

Date Opened
October 1969.

Processed by
Kathleen Carnes, James Cedrone, Cheryl Geraci, Mona Heyman, Linda Bryer Howes, Ronald Letawski, Eliot Lieberman, David Lockhart, Thomas Moore, Eileen Murphy, Patrick Paradi, Agnes Robbins, Leonard Robbins, Evelyn Sabatino, Diane Sheridan, Donna Smerlas, and Barbara Waters under the supervision of Jo August

Finding aid Prepared by
Jo August.

Finding Aid Completed
December 1975.

Encoded by
James M. Roth

Pre-Presidential Papers of John F. Kennedy (#2.)

Collection Overview
The pre-presidential papers consist of John F. Kennedy's official files for the period between 1946 and January 1961, during his legislative career in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate. The staff of the John F. Kennedy Library has organized the papers into five subcollections: House of Representative Files (1947-1952); Campaign Files (1946, 1952, 1958); Senate Files (1953-1961); 1960 Campaign Files; and Transition Files (1960-1961). These subcollections are further organized into series according to the purpose or contents of the files. In some cases the series are further divided into subseries. It is these final subseries designations, in most cases, that derived directly from the original filing scheme of the Kennedy offices.

The papers for John F. Kennedy's legislative years are incomplete. The most notable gaps are in the period of the House years, including the 1948 and 1950 campaigns. Most probably, files were discarded from time to time due to lack of space, at the conclusion of campaigns, during the move from the House to the Senate, and when the Senate offices were closed after the 1960 presidential election. The surviving files in the Kennedy Library were collected, for the most part, from storage in the attic of the old Senate Office Building. John F. Kennedy maintained both Washington and Boston offices while in the legislature, primarily using the Boston Office during the House years and the Washington office while in the Senate. Other files were collected from the Boston office, from Senator Benjamin Smith's office, and from files taken to the White House by Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln, John F. Kennedy's personal secretary.

Many of the files in the pre-presidential papers are of a routine nature. However, almost all topics of importance during these years are represented. Many items which deal with the issues of interest to individual researchers are difficult to find in the subseries or are scattered among several subseries. A researcher should fully read the series and subseries descriptions before approaching the papers themselves in order to determine just what papers to examine.

Approximately 20 linear feet of news clippings are being microfilmed and will be made available when completed. The original clippings will be destroyed. This clipping file was kept by the Washington office, and except for less than one foot of material which covers 1947 through 1952, spans the years 1954 through 1958. There are both a chronological and alphabetical subject sequence in this file. Scrapbooks of clippings from the years 1946-1952 were maintained by the Boston office and are also scheduled for microfilming.

     A small number of papers that originated during the pre-presidential period may also be found in The John F. Kennedy Personal Papers and in the "Special Events Through the Years" series of the President's Office Files. The researcher may also be interested in 1952 campaign materials in the Robert F. Kennedy Papers, and in 1960 campaign materials in both the Robert F. Kennedy Papers and the Papers of the Democratic National Committee. Audiovisual materials on this period are also available, as are oral history interviews. Researchers should consult the appropriate finding aids for these collect ions.

List of Series