For Immediate Release: May 30, 2014
Further information: Rachel Flor (617) 514-1662, rachel.flor@jfklfoundation.org
BOSTON, MA – The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum today announced a plan to make notable technology and design upgrades to the museum exhibits. The project will include overhauling and adding to the existing museum technology infrastructure, creating an immersive, interactive experience that will engage new audiences in learning about John F. Kennedy, his era, and his administration in fresh and dynamic ways. More than half of a $2.25 million gift from David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group, given in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Presidency, will be used to help fund the project. The work will begin in November 2014.
“Over fifty years have passed since President Kennedy sparked an era of progress and inspiration based on excellence,” said Kenneth R. Feinberg, chairman of the Kennedy Library Foundation. “Our goal with this museum upgrade is to reflect that spirit of innovation to ignite the imagination of the thousands of people who visit the Library each year, and to challenge them to define their own call to greatness. I am particularly grateful to David Rubenstein for helping the Library Foundation ensure that this important work will be completed in the museum.”
“I am pleased to help the JFK Library as it enhances access to its collections, and hope a byproduct of the effort will be greater public knowledge by future generations about the man who inspired so many in my generation to enter public service,” said Rubenstein, who serves as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The addition of new technology to the museum will provide the platform to showcase recently restored and digitized audio visual material from the Library’s archives. Nearly 500 hours of footage documenting the most historic moments of the Kennedy administration are being restored or digitally enhanced through an in-kind gift from Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, a preeminent Hollywood film company that specializes in the preservation, digitization, and metadata cataloguing of film footage. Life-sized projections of some of this footage, along with documents, audio and video from the Library’s extensive digital archives, will give visitors a “you are there” experience.
Renovations will also be made inside the museum's permanent galleries, including the areas that tell the story of the 1960 Presidential campaign, the Inaugural Address, President Kennedy’s press conferences and speeches, and November 22, 1963. Updates to lighting, materials and finishes throughout the galleries will serve to complement the enhancements and enliven the museum experience.
One of Boston’s most popular destinations for visitors from all nations, the Kennedy Library is an architectural masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei. The museum features 25 multimedia exhibits and period settings from the White House providing visitors of all ages an opportunity to experience “first hand” President Kennedy’s life, leadership and legacy. Beginning with a 17-minute film narrated by President Kennedy, visitors step back into the recreated world of the early 1960s and witness the first televised presidential debate; accompany first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on her televised tour of the White House; sit in on press conferences with the President; stroll through White House corridors; witness Cabinet meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and observe the president’s televised address from the Oval Office on the Civil Rights crisis.
The Library is working with Maltbie, a leading museum specialist firm, on preliminary plans for the design, fabrication and installation of the updates and enhancements. Additional funds for the project will come from the Library’s revenue generating operations. The last full-scale renovation of the museum’s exhibits was completed in 1993.
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The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
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