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Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-072-001
This diary, kept by Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy as a 6- and 7-year old child, contains handwritten entries detailing his daily activities from January 1, 1939, through September 9, 1939, while residing at 14 Prince’s Gate in London, England, where the Kennedy family lived during Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.’s tenure as United States Ambassador to Great Britain. The gold stamped title on the cover reads, “Diary / No. 28 / 1939.” Pages contain pre-printed ruling and text, including entry dates, as well as manuscript entries written in black ink. Most entries were not written by Ted, but most likely by Kennedy family nurse, Luella Hennessey, with Ted dictating. Ted’s handwriting appears in entries from July 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18. Entries cover a variety of topics, including Ted’s education at the Gibbs School and St. Thomas More School, both in London; various train and boat rides during the family’s travels; social events, including a party attended by the British royal family at which Ted danced with Princess Elizabeth; outings to parks, zoos, movies, and pantomime performances; and playtime and sports activities with family and friends. Specific events and experiences that Ted mentions include a family trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland; Adolf Hitler’s Reichstag speech; the death of Pope Pius XI; Ted’s seventh birthday, for which he received a new dog, named “Sammy”; the family’s trip to Rome in Italy, as well as the Vatican, during which he received his First Holy Communion from Pope Pius XII; bombings of London by the Irish Republican Army; a visit to the estate of family friend, Sir James Calder, in Norfolk, England; a family trip to Cannes and Antibes in France; events leading up to Great Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, including the relocation of members of the Kennedy family to financier John Pierpont Morgan, Jr.'s country estate in Hertfordshire, England, while awaiting transport back to America; and the sinking of the S.S. Athenia. Luella Hennessey and the Kennedy children's governess, Elizabeth Dunn, also feature prominently throughout the diary. About half of the pages for July and August do not contain entries. The last entry of the diary is September 9, 1939; the remaining pages dated through December 31, 1939, are blank. The diary also contains three loose photographs, one loose newspaper clipping, and one loose printed birthday invitation.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-058-001
This photograph album, compiled by Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, documents her life during the years 1935 to 1937, when she spent time abroad attending the Holy Child School in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and traveling with family and friends before returning to the United States to complete her education at the Noroton School of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Noroton Heights, Connecticut. The stamped title on the cover reads, “Pictures.” Photographs capture her time spent in Gstaad, Switzerland, for the 1935 Christmas holiday; sightseeing in Paris, France; a tour of Italy with friends from March to April 1936; a trip to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and Moscow, Russia, with her mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, in May 1936; a visit to England with friends in June 1936; sailing on Cape Cod in the summer of 1936; Christmas in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1936; and a trip to Ireland and Scotland with her brother, Joseph P. "Joe" Kennedy, Jr., in August 1937. Also included are numerous photographs of Kathleen and her classmates at both the Holy Child School and the Noroton School. Of note are photographs of Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini; Nazi soldiers marching in Berlin, Germany; Michelangelo’s David statue at its original location in Florence, Italy; Mt. Vesuvius and the ruins at Pompeii, Italy; and Kathleen kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle in Ireland. Other Kennedy family members, friends, and classmates of Kathleen’s pictured include Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.; John F. Kennedy; Rosemary Kennedy; Eunice Kennedy; Patricia Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; Jean Kennedy; Edward M. Kennedy; Alexander William Guy “Alex” de Pourtales; Eleanor “Ellie” Hoguet; Derek Richardson; Frederick Sinclair “Freddy” Carson; Lawrence “Larry” Wilkinson; Anne McDonnell; Charlotte McDonnell; Torbert “Torb” Macdonald; Sir James Calder; Lady Mildred Calder; Jim McColl; Kirk LeMoyne “Lem” Billings; Ralph “Rip” Horton; Elizabeth “Betty” Rice; Mary Veronica “Von” Rice; Sonio Coletti-Petrucca; Allison Garver; and Edith Garver. This photograph album contains 331 photographic prints.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-054-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr., documents his education, travels, and family life between 1932 and 1938. The title on the cover reads, “Album.” The scrapbook contains photographs of and printed ephemera related to his studies at the London School of Economics (1933-1934) and Harvard University (1934-1938), as well as time spent with family and friends at the Kennedy family residences in Bronxville in New York, Palm Beach in Florida, and Hyannis Port in Massachusetts, and traveling in Europe. Destinations pictured include Switzerland, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Bermuda, Georgia, and France. Of note are telegrams from Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy to their son; photographs of Joe, Jr., skiing with friends in Zermatt, Switzerland; two portrait cards from the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany; photographic postcards featuring images of the 1934 performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany; an invitation from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to Joe, Jr., for an event at the White House; materials related to Joe, Jr.’s athletic career at Harvard, where he participated in football, swimming, and rugby, including photographs of the 1936 Bermuda Rugby Week competition; a Bermuda Islands court summons issued to “Joseph Kennedy” and dated March 30, 1936; and telegrams sent to Joe, Jr., for his birthday. Kennedy family members and friends pictured in photographs and clippings include Joseph, Sr.; Rose; John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald; John F. Kennedy; Rosemary Kennedy; Kathleen Kennedy; Eunice Kennedy; Patricia Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; Jean Kennedy; Edward M. Kennedy; Kirk LeMoyne “Lem” Billings; nanny to the Kennedy children, Katherine Conboy; Edward E. Moore and Mary Moore; Sir James Calder; and economist Harold Laski. Handwritten captions and inscriptions are written in blue and black ink on many of the leaves. This scrapbook contains 224 photographic prints (including three tintypes), 53 newspaper and magazine clippings, and 36 photographic postcards, as well as telegrams, letters, invitations, menus, tickets, picture postcards, calling cards, and other types of printed ephemera.