Political Tokens: J. Doyle DeWitt & Edmund B. Sullivan

Zoins

Given the recent passing of Edmund Sullivan last month (RIP), is there any news on what will happen to J. Doyle DeWitt's collection in the Museum of American Political Life that Edmund was taking care of (closed since 2006)?

Also, is there any effort to extend or create another edition of J. Doyle DeWitt & Edmund B. Sullivan to catalog new discoveries?

BillJones

I'd love to write the book, but I would need access to pictures to make it work. I have a collection of over 500 pieces, but that's only a small fraction of what was listed in Sullivan's book. It would take access to the DeWitt collection plus the photo inventories of some of the leading dealers to pull off a book like that.

DCW

Well, Bill. I can think of no one more qualified for the job. Would love to see this idea come to fruition!

Zoins

There may be an opportunity to catalog the DeWitt collection but it may be a reasonably large project in that it could include finding a home for campaign memorabilia collection.

The University of Hartford, which hosts the collection, is looking for a future home for it:

<< <i>Under Sullivan’s direction, the [Museum of American Political Life] had one of the largest collections of White House campaign memorabilia in the nation, second in size only to that of the Smithsonian. The museum closed in 2006, and the University has been exploring options for a future home for the collection. >>

I wonder if the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard Kennedy School) would be interested. They do have a $1+ billion endowment that could help support it.