The Artifacts That Speak to President Kennedy’s Private Side

To mark the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s birth on May 29, 1917, the Kennedy Library in Boston is displaying 100 objects from its collection that aim to highlight his personal, rather than political, interests.

The special exhibit JFK 100: Milestones & Mementos features original documents, photographs and artifacts, some of which have never been on view to the public, such as the original print portrait of JFK at six months produced by a photo studio in his birthplace Brookline, Mass., as well as a crayon drawing of a tree that he did as a child. A preview of some of the items in the exhibit can be seen in the gallery above.

Other highlights include a scrapbook that he compiled in high school at the Connecticut boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall, which lists his favorite subject in school (ancient history), the song he liked most at the time (Ray Noble’s “Love Is The Sweetest Thing,” a popular song in 1933), a choice poem (Alan Seeger’s “I Have a Rendez Vous With Death”) and details of the shenanigans that he got into with the “Muckers,” a group of students who pulled pranks on campus.

“Most people see him as a looming, iconic figure, so this might help people connect with him as a person,” says museum curator Stacey Bredhoff.

The exhibit will be on view until May 2018.