#windsor castle

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 second in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families as travelers and tourists, taking snapshots of historic sites and scenic views for the sake of personalizing their experiences abroad. 

Follow Rose Fitzgerald on her travels as a young woman during her school year abroad (1908-1909), and with her father Mayor of Boston, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, during the Boston Chamber of Commerce tours of Europe(1911)andPanama (1913). Take note of the same countries her children would visit decades later. Or see the vacation spots the Kennedy family traveled to during their embassy years, when Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., served as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.

Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

KFC1418N. Rose Fitzgerald and Agnes Fitzgerald with Unidentified Girl Aboard S.S. Cymric, ca. July 1908-August 1909

KFC1445N. Rose Fitzgerald at Windsor Castle in Windsor, Berkshire, England, ca. July-August, 1908

KFC1529N. Mayor John F. Fitzgerald and Rose Fitzgerald with Boston Chamber of Commerce Delegates at Royal Palace Gardens in Budapest, Hungary, ca. July-August, 1911

KFC1449N. Rose Fitzgerald Kisses Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, ca. August 8, 1908

KFC675N. Kathleen Kennedy Kissing Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, ca. July-August, 1937

KFC1452N. John F. Fitzgerald and Rose Fitzgerald at Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, ca. August 1909

KFC702N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Visits Giant’s Causeway in Bushmills, Northern Ireland, ca. August 1937

KFC1471N. View of Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel in Paris, France, ca. August 4-5, 1911

KFC2834N. Edward M. Kennedy at Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, France, ca. August 4, 1950

KFC1057N. Rosemary Kennedy and Betty Rice Visit Kilcroney Castle in County Wicklow, Ireland, ca. July 1-August 8, 1938

KFC646N. Kathleen Kennedy Visits Doge’s Palace in Venice, Italy, March 30, 1936

KFC711N. View of Killiney Beach in Killiney, Ireland, ca. July-August, 1937

Read more about the project on the Library’s Blog. Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.