JOHN F. KENNEDY: Scrimshaw Collector

Mrs. Kennedy gave John Kennedy his first whale's tooth when he was a Senator; he extended his collection to 37 pieces which are given a tooth by tusk description here along with photographic reproductions. Mr. Barnes not only describes the folk art (whalers, killing time, also found creative self-expression) but attempts to relate it to Kennedy's particular temperament (his love of Americana in general and Cape Cod in particular; his thrift when buying it; its symbolization of courage; etc.) during the some sixty page monograph which also draws on older sources (Melville or Emerson) as well some equally venerable platitudes all his own: ""Life is an eternal conflict between good and evil."" An incidental for other collectors.