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.
Robert F. Kennedy, left, Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee, confers with his brothers Edward Kennedy, center, and Sen. John F. Kennedy during a committee hearing in Washington, D.C., in 1959. (AP Photo)
On June 5, 1968, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. His death, which occurred only two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., came as a terrible shock to the already grieving nation.
Three days later, a funeral train carried his coffin from New York to its final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery. Hundreds of thousands of people stood patiently in the searing heat as the train traveled slowly en route to Washington, DC. Paul Fusco, then a staff photographer for LOOK magazine, accompanied the train on its journey. The images he made reveal the respect that the American people—both rich and poor, Black and white—held for RFK, a man who had come to symbolize social justice and hope for a better tomorrow.
Watching “I Am JFK Jr.” for the second time. I watched it the night it first aired, then went on a Kennedy (and all of the President’s) documentary binge, so this film can be credited with really getting me interested in politics and history.
I remember where I was the day JFK Jr.’s plane went missing, I was visiting my grandparents in Florida, and I don’t know that I really had an understanding of who he was at the time (I was about 13) but I knew something big was going on. I mean, I remember where I was and watching all of the news coverage.
Having become a huge JFK and RFK fan, I now truly feel the loss of not seeing JFK Jr. continue to grow. When I first watched the documentary, I felt very emotional, because you can look at his trajectory and recognize that it’s highly likely he would’ve run for office, and would probably be President now or someday. So I felt like we were missing out.
It feels like all of the Kennedy’s are promises of something special, the new frontier, and we lost all of them, far too soon.
Note:
I highly recommend viewing, in this order:
PBS’ American Experience: The Kennedy’s PBS’ American Experience: JFK (on Blu Ray) PBS’ American Experience: RFK I Am JFK Jr.
‘Senator Robert F. Kennedy is shown with his wife Ethel boarding plane on Nov. 4, 1964 in New York City at LaGuardia Airport for flight to Glens Falls, N.Y.’
