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| John F. Kennedy Presidential Library |
The Ernest Hemingway Collection at the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is the most comprehensive set of archives in
the world. It is the essential source
for anyone that is interested in an in depth study of Ernest Hemingway and his
writings. There are personal papers,
nearly 11,000 photographs of Hemingway and a collection of his family’s
personal papers as well.
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| Pilar Hemingway's Beloved Fishing Yacht |
When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961, a very
big portion of his literary and personal estate remained at Finca Vigia, his
Cuban Home. Despite a U.S. ban on travel to Cuba – the result of
high tensions between the two countries following the Bay of Pigs incident –
President Kennedy was able to make arrangements for Mary Hemingway, Ernest’s
widow, to enter Cuba to claim family documents and belongings. While in
Cuba Mary Hemingway met with Fidel Castro who allowed her to take her husband’s
papers and artwork, in exchange for the donation of their home and the
remaining belongings to the people of Cuba., Finca Vigia. Included was his beloved fishing yacht Pilar
in the exchange. It has been restored
for a second time and is on display on the tennis court at Finca Vigia.
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| Ernest and Pauline in Key West |
Nearly 2500 digital scans of the author’s materials
housed at his house in San Francisco de Paula outside of Havana have been made
available in print form. This material
has never been seen outside of Cuba prior to this release. There are a number of interesting items
including, letters, passports, telegrams, household accounts, bar bills,
recipes, and a notebook of hurricane observations. There are so many other items included that I
don’t have the space to mention. All of these items were made available under
an agreement with the Cuban Council of National Heritage trough the efforts of
the U.S. Finca Vigia Foundation.
Unfortunately, I was not aware that you
have to make an appointment to get into the Hemingway collection, thus I was
not able to personally view the collection. Maybe next time.
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