From the early 1900s to about 1950, the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families documented their lives on nitrate photographic film. They were part of a new generation of amateur photographers utilizing a new medium that enabled them to produce numerous snapshots of everyday life – of friends and relatives, trips, holidays, and other celebratory occasions. When nitrate film became commercially available in the late 1880s, it made possible technical advancements in amateur roll film for smaller, more mobile cameras, ushering in the practice of family photography.
More than a century later, the surviving nitrate negatives from the Kennedy Family Collection have been digitized due in part to the inherently fragile and unstable nature of the medium but also to provide greater access and ensure future use while the physical objects remain safely preserved in their original format and condition.
The JFK Library is pleased to announce the completion of an 18-month grant project to catalog and provide online access to these newly digitized materials. Archivists created robust descriptions and metadata records for all of the nitrate negatives in the collection so that users can browse, search, and discover these historic photographs. Over 1,700 photographs are now available on the Library’s website. The nitrates represent a subset of photographic materials in a collection that provides access to the more personal, private moments of this prominent family not found in other historical sources.
These photos – the first in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families in more informal settings, at home and at play.
