Properly speaking, it's the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, which sits at the edge of Columbia Point, overlooking Boston Harbor. When I stopped by recently, the wind off the water was like a gale, whipping my hair straight back from my head, as though the whole place were a ship putting out to sea. The obvious spaces of the massive building belong to the museum, where there's a theater and exhibit halls, a lunch place and a gift shop. Victura, Jack's Wianno Senior yacht, is on display. But the archives--the documentary and visual holdings that pinpoint an entire life--are several floors above. You have to ask to enter the research elevator, and it helps to have emailed first for an appointment, but pretty much anyone can consult the reference librarians. You leave your personal belongings in a locker, choose a desk, and fill out a form listing the files you'd like to read. A helpful staff member brings you boxes of documents. And in the silence and the enormous view of water beyond the wall of steel and glass that overlooks the harbor, you begin to read.
It can feel almost indecent, this kind of access. There are letters scrawled in a childish hand, full of adventures and humor and boarding school loneliness. There are records of illness in a mother's careful copperplate. There are academic files--grades and lists of recommended reading, the comments of Harvard advisors--and a cache of love letters that detail a hectic few months following Pearl Harbor. There are also, of course, all the detailed memoranda of a presidency--but I wasn't looking for that. I was looking for the boy Jack once was. And he was there, in the archives.
I don't pretend to write biography and I'm certainly not rewriting history. But I take comfort and inspiration from facts. It helps to know from Jack's various passports that his eyes were sometimes called green, and sometimes hazel; that he was a messy roommate and a wild driver. I can imagine that guy. I can walk with him into nightmare, and believe he'll get us both back.
If you can, get to Columbia Point. Preferably on a windy day. The past is something you can touch.
Francine
What a spectacular setting for doing research. I can't wait to read about the Jack you came to know. Kathy
ReplyDeleteI love fiction that has a strong foundation in history. So excited to read about Jack the person and not just JFK the historical figure.
ReplyDeleteare some of those window points concave or is the photo at the end of a window series (short pattern)? I don't know the building, like seeing it, and your description has me already in the story, I look forward to reading it. I will probably leave the research to you but I might check out the building sometime. thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dorsey, the window bows out at the far right of the picture. Interesting pattern, isn't it? And the wall's about that monumental. You can see how stiff the wind was, that day, from the white caps. I found it a remarkable place to work--read some files, look up at the steel kaleidoscope frame, and beyond to the sea. A real gift--
DeleteMo just finished JACK 1939 -- he stayed up very late to read it. I'm waiting until it comes on my Kindle. Mo raves about it and your writing.
ReplyDeleteSo glad he enjoyed it! One of my FEW advance readers...
DeleteI can imagine you doing the research, your description is so vivid. I love archives, but have never read them in a place with a view. Everyplace I've been had no windows at all. Telling a story about Jack Kennedy in 1939 is so clever because the reader knows very little about this time of his life. I was intrigued that you included Joseph Kennedy Sr. being sympathetic to the Nazis. I really can't wait to read this book.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think Joe Kennedy was fearful of war, and had no real understanding of the Nazi agenda. Most people didn't, in 1939. That said, he was reviled by the British by the time he resigned his post and left England, because they saw him as a coward, an appeaser and worse, a defeatist. His successor as US ambassador, Gil Winant, was universally loved during five years in London. It's an interesting contrast in personality and public relations.
DeleteBy the way, juno, you've won this week's copy of JACK. Please send me your address by clicking on the "contact" button on this website.
DeleteI like your book so far. Its amazing how Jack went as far as he did with all the health issues he had.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I like the bookcover with Jack and the Eiffel Tower.
DeleteI just finish this book. A great read.
DeleteI love the cover, too, and I'm so glad you've enjoyed the book. I was astounded to realize how chronically ill he was throughout his life--and that formed the basis of my fictional character. Thanks so much for leaving your thoughts! --And for reading Jack.
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