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Collection
KFC
Photographs, 1878-1980 (bulk 1890-1965). Images of the John F. Fitzgerald Family, the Patrick Joseph Kennedy Family, the Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Family, and their friends and associates.
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-070-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr., documents his travels, family life, political work, and naval career between 1938 and 1941. The gold stamped title on the cover reads, “Scrap Book.” It contains newspaper clippings, photographic prints and postcards, handwritten and typed letters, and printed ephemera related to his travels in the United States and Europe, including a 1939 visit to Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil War; his involvement with the Democratic Party, including as a Massachusetts delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention; his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and his diplomatic work as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom; his family's travels between the U.S. and England; his naval training at the Squantum Naval Air Station in Quincy, Massachusetts; and other news and current events of the time. Other Kennedy family members mentioned in clippings include Joe, Jr.’s mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy; his siblings, John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy; grandparents, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald; aunt, Margaret L. Burke; uncle, Thomas A. Fitzgerald; cousins, Marion Eunice Fitzgerald and John F. “Jack” Fitzgerald; and his sister Kathleen's future husband, William "Billy" Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. Photographs feature Joe, Jr., attending unidentified events, with fellow trainees at the Squantum Naval Air Station, and holding a fish. An additional photograph shows an aerial view of the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach, Florida. Photographic postcards feature images of canals in Xochimilco, Mexico, and of Joe, Jr., in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Senders of typed and handwritten correspondence include British politician Arthur Greenwood; politician and Democratic National Convention Chairman, James A. Farley; journalist Arthur Krock; Executive Director of the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety, J. W. Farley; and Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. Printed ephemera include a dance card with a pencil attached by string; a flier advertising a debate on Lend-Lease policy; a printed menu and seating chart for a dinner attended by Chairman of the London Stock Exchange, R. B. Pearson; a ticket book for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, in July 1940; and a printed booklet published by the Squantum Naval Air Station titled, "Flight 62 / Knocks It Off," and dated August 7, 1941. Another item of note is a paper bag printed with Spanish text; bags of this type originally contained loaves of bread and were part of a campaign by General Francisco Franco in which airplanes dropped bread over Madrid, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War. Original notations are written in blue and black ink and pencil on the rectos and/or versos of some of the clippings. This scrapbook contains 75 newspaper and magazine clippings, nine photographic prints and postcards, six pieces of correspondence, and seven other pieces of printed ephemera.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-066-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy (likely with assistance from a governess, nurse, or family member), documents a wide range of activities of the Kennedy family in 1938 and 1939 during Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.'s tenure as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. A handwritten note on the front free endpaper reads, “Teddy Kennedy / 14, Prince’s Gate / London, England” in black ink. Of note are clippings related to the family's trans-Atlantic voyage aboard the S.S. Washington and arrival in London in early 1938; their residence at 14 Prince's Gate in London; aspects of Ambassador Kennedy's diplomatic role, including his first levee (an audience with the king) at St. James's Palace in London, his first speech as Ambassador, and his impressions of the potential for war in Europe and of trade relations between Great Britain and the United States; Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr.’s participation in rugby at Harvard University; Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's attendance at a luncheon at the American Women's Club of London; Rosemary Kennedy and Eunice Kennedy’s arrival in London; Kathleen Kennedy and Rosemary's presentation as debutantes at the Court of St. James's; Teddy and Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy’s assistance at the ribbon cutting of London’s Children’s Zoo; and a family trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland, following the Christmas holiday in 1938. Also of note are photographs of a mounted police officer and of the Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace that were likely taken by Teddy on his box camera, as well as tickets to the Army versus Royal Air Force rugby match on March 26, 1938, and to the King’s Birthday Parade on June 9, 1938. This scrapbook contains 230 newspaper and magazine clippings, eight photographic prints, and three tickets.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-061-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr., documents his education, travels, and other aspects of his life from 1936 to 1940. The scrapbook contains clippings, photographs, postcards, and printed ephemera related to his time at Harvard University; his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.’s tenure as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom; trips to various European countries; and social events and activities. Newspaper and periodical clippings cover a wide range of topics, including Joe, Jr.’s athletic career and involvement in student government at Harvard; the Kennedy family’s arrival in London, England, following Joe, Sr.'s appointment as ambassador; the prospect of British involvement in the global conflict that became World War II; Joe, Sr.'s opinions on and actions related to the war; and other political and society news and events. Others featured in clippings and pictured in photographs include Joe, Jr.’s mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy; his siblings, John F. “Jack” Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy; his grandparents, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald; his cousin, Joseph Francis Gargan, Jr.; and family friend, Hugh Fraser. Printed ephemera pasted into the scrapbook include invitations to various parties, receptions, luncheons, dinners, weddings, meetings, and banquets, including a ball at Buckingham Palace; event programs; menus; tickets; and calling cards. Of note are a set of fingerprints that Joe, Jr., had taken during a visit to the Boston Police Headquarters; an envelope containing five bird feathers; photographs of Joe, Jr., dressed in drag for a Harvard theater production; clippings related to his purported relationship with figure skater Megan Taylor; a letter from British Member of Parliament, Anthony Eden; photographic prints and postcards that capture a Kennedy family trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland; a photograph of Joe, Jr., aboard the R.M.S. Mauretania; clippings related to Joe, Jr.’s voyage from London to New York City, New York; Spanish paper currency; an unsent postcard addressed to Katherine “Kikoo” Conboy, nanny to the Kennedy children, signed by Joe, Jr.; a photographic postcard signed by Alois Lang, the actor who portrayed Jesus in the 1934 performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany; contact prints of strips of 35mm black and white negatives that capture scenes from Joe, Jr.’s 1939 trip to Spain with Kathleen following the end of the Spanish Civil War, including images of Spanish Loyalist tanks and damage from the siege of the Alcázar of Toledo; a photographic postcard featuring an image of Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Hermann Göring; signed portrait photos of several unidentified women; and prints of four watercolor illustrations depicting scenes from the Spanish Civil War, credited to “Artillery Lieutenant Luis Serrano.” Other destinations pictured in photographic prints and postcards include Warsaw, Poland; Cannes, France; Capri, Rome, Venice, Naples, and Amalfi, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; Czechoslovakia; Killarney and other locations in Ireland; and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia. Original handwritten captions and inscriptions are written in black ink on some of the leaves. This photograph album contains 164 photographic prints and postcards, 134 newspaper and periodical clippings, 29 pieces of printed ephemera, six banknotes and two banknote fragments, four pieces of correspondence, and four prints of watercolor drawings.
Collection
BGNPC
Photographs, circa 1897-1962, created and collected for publication in The Boston Globe. Photographs include early images of the John F. Fitzgerald family, the Joseph P. Kennedy family, and John F. Kennedy from childhood through his tenure as Congressman.