Letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to Newport Preservation society rediscovered

NEWPORT, R.I. (WLNE) — “I think it is so wonderful what you do for the Preservation Society,” Jacqueline Kennedy wrote in part in a letter to Katherine Warren, founder of the Newport Preservation Society, in the 1950s.

While organizing some of the society’s large collection of archival martials, archivist Genna Duplisea rediscovered the one-page, double-sided letter in a mislabeled box.

Duplisea said the letter was dated March 12, but no year was given.

“It appears to have been written in the late 1950s when John F. Kennedy was a U.S. senator,” she said.

In that letter, the former First Lady added, “So if you still want me on the committee even though we mightn’t be at the ball, I’d love to be on it.”

Duplisea explained that presumably the committee was being formed to plan a ball for the Preservation Society.

“This could be a reference to the 1957 Tiffany Ball at Marble House, a fundraising gala sponsored by the New York jewelry firm,” the Preservation Society said. “Or it could have been the Silver Ball in August 1959 at The Breakers, where ‘Mrs. John Kennedy’ was chair of the Junior Committee.”

So, for now, the society said its “research into this letter will continue.”