MUSEUM'S POLITICAL COLLECTION GROWS

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY              2013


When I was a student at USC, I worked on the political campaign of Illinois Senator Adlai E. Stevenson. As the Democratic convention approached in the Los Angeles Sports Arena, all of us began to see the enthusiasm for Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy rising. When President Kennedy won the nomination, I was among the students who invited him to speak at the University. He accepted and today on the steps of the Doheny Library there is bronze plaque marking the occasion.
Kennedy began his speech by calling the University of Southern California, the "Harvard of the West." By the end of the speech, there were discarded Nixon buttons all over the lawn.  About a month later President Nixon, then Governor of California, spoke on the campus. There were no Kennedy buttons on the lawn.
On election day, my mainly Republican fraternity brothers were tying me up in the cellar of the SAE house to keep me from voting, when I showed them my absentee ballot stub in my wallet. I had already voted.
The Museum of the San Fernando Valley collects and preserves, and will eventually exhibit political memorabilia (local, state and national).

President John F. Kennedy and Governor Edmond G. Brown -  Gift to the Political Memorabilia Collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2009

THE LOS ANGELES CONVENTION THAT NOMINATED JOHN F. KENNEDY

PRESERVING OUR VALLEY'S HERITAGE       2013

In 1960, the San Fernando Valley was abuzz with excitement over the nomination of Senator John F. Kennedy for the Presidency of the United States. Los Angeles young people were thrilled when the vibrant young Senator accepted the invitation of students from USC to speak to them on their campus. 

These tickets to the convention sessions of July 1960 are a gift to the political archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg - 2013. (click on images to enlarge them)

AN AMERICAN TREASURE AMONG DOCUMENTS DONATED TO THE MUSEUM

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY               2012

Recently, a box of political memorabilia was donated to your Museum. Among the letters to and from California political leaders was this 51 year old invitation to the inauguration of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Now just over a half century old, the document will be carefully documented and preserved for future generations by The Museum.  (click on the image to enlarge it.)

Your Museum collects and preserves political memorabilia related to the life and times of the residents of the greater San Fernando Valley. Support your Museum today.