John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The building I. M. Pei designed to hold a president's era — not just his papers, but the complete record of it.
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Dedicated in 1979 by Jimmy Carter on Columbia Point in Dorchester, this I. M. Pei building holds the original correspondence of the Kennedy Administration. Kennedy himself insisted it be more than an archive — "a complete record of a Presidential era." It also holds a special collection of published and unpublished materials by and about Ernest Hemingway — books and papers housed alongside the presidential archive.
What to look for
- I. M. Pei's building on Columbia Point — the official home of the Kennedy Administration's original papers and correspondence.
- Original Kennedy Administration papers and personal correspondence, preserved as Kennedy instructed during his presidency.
- The Ernest Hemingway special collection — books and unpublished papers held alongside the presidential archive.
Located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighborhood, directly next to the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Boston, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Boston pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts BostonFour hundred and fifty thousand works of art under one roof — one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas.
- TD GardenThe subway stops underneath it — TD Garden is built directly above MBTA's North Station, so you step off the train and you are already at the door.
- Harvard College ObservatoryOn the night of July 16-17, 1850, astronomers here made the first daguerreotype of a star — Vega — through a telescope that was the largest in North America.
- Fenway ParkThe oldest active ballpark in MLB, where a cramped city block accidentally invented some of baseball's most famous features.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIn 1990, thieves walked out with thirteen works worth $500 million — none have ever come back, and the case is still open.
- Boston Public LibraryJohn Adams' personal 3,800-volume library lives here — and any Massachusetts adult can walk in and access it.