Historic Boston: JFK Library and Museum

The path for the motorcade escorting Senator Kennedy’s body was recently announced. Starting in Hyannisport, it will proceed north into Boston and drive past places significant in the senator’s and his family’s life: past St. Stephen’s Church and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the North End, over to the State House, and to then President Kennedy’s former residence on Bowdoin Street and the JFK Federal Building, ultimately arriving at the JFK Library and Museum in Dorchester.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is an appropriate endpoint for today’s procession. Although a museum dedicated to President Kennedy, the museum honors the legacy of the entire Kennedy family. The museum was originally intended to be located in Harvard Square, but after much dispute in the mid to late 1970s, the museum’s current location on Columbia Point in Dorchester was chosen. Designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, the building’s design embraces its oceanside location, in honor of the Kennedys’ love of the sea. The museum was opened to the public in 1979. It displays documents, artifacts, photographs, and audiovisual materials from President Kennedy’s time in office and his presidential campaign, which Senator Edward Kennedy helped to manage.

The last few rooms of the museum are entirely dedicated to the Kennedy family as a whole. The displays are a thoughtful and beautiful tribute to the family, complete with photos, family items, and letters. The museum portion of the building will be closed as Senator Kennedy lies in repose, and it will reopen on Saturday morning at 10:30.

With a large addition to the museum planned in the near future, the JFK Library and Museum will continue to commemorate the family that is so iconic to this state—and to provide a place for the public to honor the memory of the late senator.