You’ve Got to see This, Captain

This is not a blog post about work. This is a post about those strange moments in life when you are struck with affection for the small idiosyncrasies and diversity of interests that typify human life. People’s interests are just so interesting.

To start at the beginning: A few weeks ago, a friend of mine showed up at my door, holding a pile of books. This is not an uncommon occurrence. She often shows up unexpectedly with books that she found at our local free street library and that she thinks I would like. This time, however, was different. She thrust something into my hands, and said, “you’ve got to see this, Captain.”

What “this” was, was a mouldering scrapbook, barely bound.

Inside, also mouldering, was evidence of someone’s love for President John F. Kennedy and his family, and a fascination with his assassination and the events that followed. Page after page was covered with newspaper clippings detailing the president’s murder, his funeral, and features on his life in the White House.

The most exciting artifact of the collection, though, was a note the compiler of the scrapbook had received from the office of the former First Lady, thanking them for their own condolence note. Though it was obviously sent from Jackie Kennedy’s office, and not the woman herself, it is still a somewhat poignant look at both the public’s response to Kennedy’s assassination, and the sense of personal grief felt at the death of a public figure, as well as the grace and comportment with which his widow conducted herself when faced with this public grief at what was certainly a terrible time in her life.

Though I myself do not have any special interest in the Kennedy family or his assassination, I could still tell that this scrapbook has archival and historical value. My hope is to get in contact with the University of Haifa’s American Studies Department, and to pass it on to them for restoration and preservation.

Beyond the historical value, however, this old scrapbook also holds the remnants of one person’s interests and fascinations. It is likely that this person is no longer among the living, but this artifact that they so lovingly created, does, and that makes it itself worthy of love.