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Artifacts and historical perspective



I also am enjoying the exchange regarding Jackie's suit.  [I won't
mention the color word if I can help it].  What I find fascinating is
the fact that this event and the personalities involved are so vivid to
some of us, and yet the mystique continues to grow, to the extent that
our own very personal recollections can be and in some cases are being
altered with each new "wave" of information that surfaces.

Many of us came of age with the Kennedys, family, political history and
celebrity media hype.

I research medieval topics from the dis-advantage point of the 20th
century, and I often wonder how much of what we consider historical
fact, is actually the product of emotionalism and re-thinking and
re-examining real events.

The movement of artifacts is another aspect of the historical record.
The relics of St. James of Campostela is one example, of the
"translation" of sacred relics that changed the economic, political,
social and religious face of Europe.  There are probably thousands of
other such artifacts / relics that have rolled through history and
geography and gathered their own embelished lives.

Maybe this is what's destined to happen to Jackie's suit and other items
that physically connect us with the past.

Isn't it great to be a part of history, even if we were just onlookers.
I'm fascinated with the comments of those who have had direct contact
with the people and artifacts at some time in their lives.  I recently
viewed the John F. Kennedy Exhibit at the Florida International Museum,
in St. Petersburg, FL [and I realize that this will open the way for
critiques of the FIM and it's purpose; sorry in advance, about that if
it's a sore spot for anyone], and it brought back a lot of memories, and
allowed me to see some aspects of the President and the White House and
the family that I wouldn't have known otherwise.  But that's as close as
I've personally been to real Kennedy artifacts.

Yes, I agree with those who have commented on Jackie's sense of history
and destiny.  Not just with the blood stains on the suit, but with every
aspect of her life as First Lady.  She was a rare and intelligent person
of highly developed taste.  Her sense of preservation was an asset to
American history and culture that few are aware of, but one anyone
interested in preservation should be.


Sophia Manoulian Kugeares
University of South Florida
Office of Library Development
4202 E. Fowler Avenue LIB 122
Tampa, FL  33620
Phone: 813-974-3439
Fax:  813-974-5153

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