As a country in many ways we still mourn the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The sudden end of our Camelot was a private tragedy made public. Recently Vanity Fair ran a piece exploring Jacqueline Kennedy’s deep sadness and struggle after the murder of her husband. Pieces from the Kennedy estate continue to fetch high prices at auction. Perhaps we all want a piece of a more innocent era.
The auction of a collection of 13 original and most likely unpublished negatives from the wedding of John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy being sold off by Boston, MA based RR Auction has commanded national attention. Originally the photos, taken on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island were said to be taken by a freelance photographer, Arthur Borges, of Fall River, MA who was hired to be a backup photographer for the wedding but the Fall River Herald News uncovered that the photos were actually likely taken by Frank Ataman. Each negative measures 3.75 x 5, four feature the newlywed couple, two show the entire wedding party, and the remainder show the cake, reception, and wedding attendees.
Other pieces of Kennedy ephemera up for auction include a rare 1963 John and Jacqueline Kennedy holiday card, signed mere days before the assassination and a John F. Kennedy presidential document from 1962, that appoints an African-American woman to the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.
The online auction, which began on September 26 and runs through October 15. More details can be found online at www.rrauction.com.
