The groundbreaking initiative we are announcing today is the first of its kind in the nation… Because of this historical initiative, millions of documents, miles of film, and hundreds of thousands of photographs from President Kennedy's administration will be scanned, digitized, index and permanently preserved. More importantly, they will be available to all citizens of the world - not just the scholars and researchers who make the journey to Boston.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
June 9, 2006
Twenty-nine years after participating in the formal groundbreaking of the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Columbia Point, Senator Edward M. Kennedy announced a major and unprecedented effort by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to build a new library - a digital one consisting of the entire collection of papers, documents, photographs and audio recordings of President John F. Kennedy, eventually making them accessible to citizens throughout the world via the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's website - www.jfklibrary.org
Senator Kennedy was joined by Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, and Joe Tucci, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of EMC Corporation, whose company is providing the National Archives and archivists at the Kennedy Presidential Library with the technology and technical expertise needed to undertake the project.
"We are extremely fortunate that EMC has made such a generous and extraordinary donation to preserve forever this treasure of American history," said Senator Kennedy. "EMC gives testimony to President Kennedy's Inaugural call to 'Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.' When he ran for President, my brother spoke of a New Frontier. 'I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision,' he said, and 'I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier.' How proud Jack would be that the technology, invention and imagination he so championed would one day be developed by a company in the state he so loved."
"EMC is proud to be working with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to ensure that its historical treasures are preserved and made broadly accessible to scholars and the general public around the world for generations to come," said Joe Tucci, EMC's Chairman, President and CEO. "EMC's mission is to help organizations get the most value possible from their information by providing them with world-class technologies and solutions for capturing, storing, managing, protecting, moving, and archiving information in all forms. It's especially gratifying to have been able to donate our financial support, storage platforms, software, and technical expertise to such a distinguished library located in our home state of Massachusetts."
"A large-scale digitizing initiative, such as that initiated by the Kennedy Presidential Library, is a complex undertaking," said Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States. "The task of digitizing this important and treasured archive will require a dedicated staff and will take years to complete. I have utmost confidence in our ability to undertake this task. We are indebted to EMC for providing us with both the resources and technical expertise to launch this historic initiative."
The initiative announced on June 9 to digitize, index and archive millions of presidential documents, manuscripts, photographs and audio/visual recordings at a presidential library collection is the first of its kind in the nation. It materialized as the result of the leadership of Foundation Board member Ed Schlossberg, husband of Caroline Kennedy, and principle of ESI Design, one of the world's foremost experiential design firms who designed the new Kennedy Presidential Library website launched last March. Schlossberg envisioned a data asset management system that would enable the Kennedy Presidential Library to eventually make its archives available and accessible to a world wide audience through the new website.
Included among the millions of historical papers, documents and images that will be permanently preserved are precious and irreplaceable records of the nation's struggle for Civil Rights; its conflict with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War; its efforts to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade; its commitment to public service through the creation of the Peace Corps; its prevention of a nuclear holocaust during the Cuban Missile Crisis; and its embrace of American art and culture under the guidance of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
The Kennedy Presidential Library's research facilities are among the busiest of presidential libraries. Its archives currently include more than 8.4 million pages of the personal, congressional and presidential papers of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and more than 40 million pages of over 300 other individuals who were associated with the Kennedy Administration or mid-20th Century American history. In addition, the archives hold more than 400,000 still photographs; 9,000 hours of audio recordings; 7.5 million feet of motion picture film; and 1,200 hours of video recordings. The project to digitize the collection is expected to take more than 10 years and will begin with the official papers of President Kennedy.
EMC Corp's Generosity Makes History
A few years ago, Kennedy Library Foundation board member James T. Brett, President of the New England Council, thought it would be a good idea to invite the senior leadership of EMC Corporation to a visit at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The extraordinary result of that first meeting in early 2004, and subsequent conversations with the leadership of EMC and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, is an in-kind gift valued in excess of $1M to digitize millions of presidential documents-the library's entire collection of archival materials.
Because of the generous leadership of Joseph Tucci, Chairman, President and CEO of EMC and Chris Goode, the technology company's Senior Director of Corporate, Government and Community Affairs, the Kennedy Library will now have access to EMC's state-of-the-art software, hardware and technical support services to undertake this innovative digitization project-the first of its kind within the presidential library system. EMC has also generously donated cash gifts to support this historic effort.