The words “Inaugural Committee” were in a neat script on the oversized envelope, making it clear that the content inside was official. The envelope itself was the faded off-white color of aged paper, so I knew that it had not been sent by the Obama committee.
Glancing at the date, I saw that it was postmarked 1961, and I instantly knew that it was connected to the inauguration of then President-elect John F. Kennedy. The envelope was one of two in a box on a table with mundane stuff discarded from people’s homes, its historical status and value minimized by its surroundings.
The document itself was in impeccable condition. The owner had kept it safe and clean. The top of the invitation bore a gold embossed inaugural seal. The document invited the holder to the inauguration of Kennedy and his vice president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, on Friday, Jan. 20, 1961, in Washington, DC., ending with the name of Edward H. Foley, chairman of the Kennedy-Johnson Inaugural Committee.
The envelope itself was postmarked March 21, 1961. This invitation had been sent two months after the inauguration. I can only assume that the committee was either giving away excess invitations or selling them. I doubt if that would make a difference in the value of the document now, since these invitations are souvenirs.
Kennedy, the country’s 44th president, took the oath of office on Jan. 20 on the new marble East Front of the U.S. Capitol in temperatures as low as 7 degrees and with snow clogging the streets of the city. It was here that Kennedy spoke the infamous words: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
While the first inauguration was George Washington’s, invitations to them don’t go back that far. Prior to the 20th century, invitations or commemorative cards were issued for inaugural balls or grand concerts (here’s an invite for President Lincoln’s ball), but not the inaugurations.
Congress in 1901 set up the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to be the official planners of the inauguration. The committee prints and distributes invitations and tickets, and manages the swearing-in ceremony and the luncheon that follows.
Invitations bearing the committee members’ names are slightly different from the one at auction, which was produced by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. That group organizes inaugural balls and other social events.
President Obama’s inaugural committee sent out one million invitations during the first week of January for his Jan. 20, 2009, swearing-in. The design was the same that had been used since Harry S. Truman was inaugurated in 1949 – gold seal with black lettering. Unlike the others, the paper on Obama’s invitation was recycled.
The invitations were sent to politicians, entertainers and diplomats, as well as regular U.S. citizens, who also received tickets from members of Congress.
Kennedy’s inaugural committee apparently sent a commemorative invitation like the one at auction to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but he did not attend.
The commemorative or souvenir invitation is the most common, according to loriferber.com, which specializes in presidential memorabilia. Because so many of these invitations were printed and distributed (or sold), the site noted, their value tends to be lower. The site also indicated that commemorative invitations produced before 1949 may be more collectible because they may have been the only items made.
As for the value of the Kennedy invitation, I found the average selling (and sold) price was about $200 to $400. In most cases on eBay, the invitations were being sold as a lot with photos and other corresponding documents. Most of the items did not sell (one grouping sold to a single bidder for $200). Most of the single invitations sold for less than $100.
A framed invitation from the official inauguration committee in 1961 was selling for $995 (along with a photo of Kennedy); unframed, it was selling for $695. On eBay, an unframed one with more documents sold for $120.
