The John F. Kennedy collection was given to Brown University in 1976 by Harold L. Tinker, a former instructor of Kennedy in his prep school days. Mr Tinker, who taught at Choate School, Wallingford, Connecticut from 1923 to 1962, maintained a close personal friendship with John Kennedy from the time of Kennedy's attendance at Choate School in the 1930's until the year of his death.
The collection includes some forty books by and about Kennedy (see appended list ); numerous magazines and newspapers and articles clipped from them; incidental correspondence; photographs and other types of ephemera; and finally, and most importantly, a number of letters from Kennedy to Tinker.
Copy of letter from H.L. Tinker which prompted Kennedy to write.
Kennedy writes about death of older brother, Joseph, and his intention of compiling a memorial book to him and comments on senselessness of war.
Copy of Navy commendation for Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy gives brief sketch of Joseph's career.
Letter from John F. Kennedy to H. L. Tinker thanking him for the congratulations and apologizing for not getting a chance to speak to him in greater length on the weekend.
Invitation cards and newsclipping about launching of Navy vessel named for Joseph.
Letter thanking H. L. Tinker.
Invitation (personal and formal cards) to Kennedy's wedding.
Letter thanking H.L. Tinker for painting sent when in the hospital.
Brief note thanking H.L. Tinker for Christmas card.
Thanking H. L. Tinker for the congratulations on election to presidency.
Thanking H. L. Tinker for sympathy note.
The Boston Transcript
The Atlantic
Saturday Review
Speech delivered at American University.
BIllings writes of his friendship with John Kennedy at Choate and later; Griswold: personal to Tinker.
Printed card for sympathy on J.F.K.'s death;: Three letters dealing with Tinker's memorial speech for Kennedy at Choate School; also Mrs. Kennedy's request for and receipt of copies of Kennedy's letters to Tinker.
Leinbach: congratulates Tinker on Choate School speech for Kennedy; St John: comments on Kennedy's death and funeral; gives some Kennedy quotes; Wuerth: personal to Tinker.
A limited edition copy of H.L. Tinker's memorial speech on Kennedy; Mrs Rose Kennedy's response (typescript); 2 copies of program dedicating Robert Berks' sculpture of Kennedy.
Facsimile of part of Kennedy speech; Broadside: John Fitzgerald Kennedy (supplement to American Heritage (1963 December); In Memory, John F. Kennedy: pamphlet prepared by Choate School; John Fitzgerald Kennedy: National Historic Site brochure; The John F. Kennedy Library Exhibit: pamphlet; Christmas card with reproduction of Kennedy's signature in Choate School Register; copy of Christmas card reproducing a painting by Mrs. John F. Kennedy.
Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (from Boston Sunday Herald: 1963 December 8) Launching of U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
Articles on Kennedy from Presidential campaign through memorial tributes after assassination.
Includes memorial booklets on Kennedy; one on Mrs. John F. Kennedy; also material dealing with Edward Kennedy and the Mary Jo Kopechne incident.
Memorial editions from Life or Look.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. on Kennedy.
Theodore C. Sorensen, Adlai E. Stevenson, and Theodore H. White.
Warren Report
William Manchester: The Death of a President: Look.
The Kennedy Wit New York, The Citadel Press.
John F. Kennedy, Scrimshaw Collector. Boston & Toronto, Little, Brown & Co.
The Search for J.F.K. New York, Berkeley Publ. Corp.
Book of the Month Club News. n.p, Book-of-the-Month-Club-Inc.
The Man Who Knew Kennedy. N.Y. The Dial Press.
That Special Grace. Philadelphia & New York, J.B.Lippincott Co.
The Brief. Volume XXXVI. Wallingford, Conn., THe Choate School.
John Kennedy. A Political profile by... New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co.,
The Green Pastures. New York, Farrar & Rinehart.
"Honey Fitz" Three Steps to the White House. The Life and the Times John F. ( Honey Fitz) Fitzgerald. Indianapolis & New York, Bobbs- Merrill
The Kennedy Family. Boston & Toronto, Little Brown & Co.
Irquest. The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth. New York, Viking Press.
Dedication. The Gift Outright. - Kennedy, John F.
The Inaugural Address. New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.
The Inaugural Address. New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc,
A Memorial Edition of What the President Does All Day. NY Dell Publ.Co.
The Dark Side of Lyndon Haines Johnson. London, Peter Dawnay Ltd..
As We Remember Joe. Cambridge, Mass., University Press.
Profile in Courage. New York, Harper & Bros.
Cambridge, Mass., University Press.
The Strategy of Peace- Edited by Allan Nevins. New York, Harper & Bros.
Why England Slept. New York, Wilfred Funk Inc.
Rush to Judgement. A Critique fo the Warren Commission's... Lee Harvey Oswald. New York, Chicago & San Francisco, Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
The American Presidency, An Interpretation. New York & London, Harper Row.
J.F.K. The Man and the Myth.. New York, Macmillan Co.
J.F.K: Boyhood to White House. Greenwich, Conn., Fawcett Publications.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy... As We Remember Him. New York, Atheneum Press
My Twelve Years With John F. Kennedy. New York, David McKay Co. New York, David McKay Co.
Overtime in Heaven: Adventures in the Foreign Service. Garden City, NY., Doubleday & Co.
The Emergence of Johnn F. Kennedy Portrait. New York, Bramhall House.
The Death of A President. New York, Evanston & London, Harper & Row.
"Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye." Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Boston and Toronto, Little, Brown & Co.
With Kennedy. New York, Doubleday & Co.
The Oswald Affair. An Examination of the Contradictions and Omissions of the Warren Report. Cleveland & New York, World Publ. Co.
New York, Countrywide Publications.
The John F. Kennedys. Toronto, Ambassador Books Ltd: New York, Sanders Printing Corp.
The John F. Kennedys. Toronto Ambassador Books Ltd; New York, Sanders Printing Corp.
John F. Kennedy, President
Kennedy. New York, Harper & Row
John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Man of Courage. New York, Signet Key Books.
John F. Kennedy and PT-109. New York, Random House.
The Making of the President. New York, Atheneum Publ. 1961
Broadsides
Periodicals, Magazines and Excerpts from Magazines.
Miscellaneous Newspaper Clippings and Letters; Periodicals from Choate School
Complete Newspapers
The collection's significance is greatly enhanced by the personal nature of the exchange of letters between John F. Kennedy and Harold L. Tinker. The subject matter of the correspondence includes Kennedy's comments on the life and career of his older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.; his thought on the senselessness of war; his ambition to do what he could in the future to prevent another war; and personal and familial matters.
The collection also includes additional correspondence between Tinker and other individuals, including Mrs. Rose Kennedy, personal friends of Kennedy, and Tinker's own friends and acquaintances.
The magazine and newspaper materials document Kennedy's political fortunes, his family's activities, his assassination and reactions to it; and various types of memorial tributes to him.
Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Brown University Library. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Collection of John F. Kennedy materials, Ms. 78.16, Brown University Library.
The collection is divided into six series:
Please note that the original letters by Kennedy are not housed with this collection but rather located elsewhere in the library. Copies of all his materials are provided in this collection to facilitate research.
Also, please note that file folder numbers immediately followed by an "X' indicate oversize storage. Please bring this to the attention of the library page.
To utilize any or all of the collection of Kennedy materials, please request the collection by collection number: Ms 78.16, plus the box and folder number(s) where applicable; in the case of oversize materials, only the collection number plus appropriate folder number is required.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
The John F. Kennedy collection was given to the University in 1976 by Harold L. Tinker (class of 1921).
The Literary rights to any of the Kennedy material in this collection reside with the Kennedy literary estate, and not with Brown University. Therefore, permission to publish from the Kennedy material must be secured from the Kennedy literary estate.
The literary rights to any of the other material in this collection must be assumed to reside with the authors of the respective literary estates. Brown University does not claim the literary rights to any such material.