He first joined the Kennedy Library in 1999 and has held several major management positions at the Kennedy Library prior to his elevation as director, including Director of Education, Deputy Director, and Acting Director.

As Director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Putnam has overall responsibility for the Library’s core function of collecting, preserving and making available to the public the documents, audiovisual material and memorabilia of President Kennedy and his administration.

Putnam first joined the Kennedy Presidential Library in 1999 as Director of Education and  worked to strengthen the Library’s educational offerings by recruiting dynamic new staff; upgrading the Kennedy Library Forum Series; developing new museum and civic education programs; organizing teacher institutes; launching the Celebrate! Performing arts series for families; and expanding outreach to underserved student populations through a free bus program.  He earned two Archivist Awards – the highest honor bestowed on National Archives employees – for his work on the “Responding to Terrorism” Kennedy Library Forum Series launched in the aftermath of 9/11 and for his work on the Dialogue in Diversity initiative which brings urban, suburban, and rural students together to discuss contemporary issues.

A graduate of Bowdoin College and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Putnam’s career has bridged the fields of education and government including earning a Watson Fellowship to examine education policy in Quebec and Fulbright Scholarship in Senegal, West Africa.  Before coming to the Library he directed a federally funded Upward Bound program that helped low income high school students to be the first in their families to attend college.

   


Ellen Fitzpatrick is a Professor and scholar specializing in modern American political and intellectual history, Ellen Fitzpatrick is the author and editor of six books and has appeared regularly on PBS’s “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.” She received her PhD in history from Brandeis University and has been interviewed as an expert on modern American political history by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boston Globe, Washington Post, CBS’s “Face the Nation,” and National Public Radio. The Carpenter Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, where she has been recognized for Excellence in Public Service, Fitzpatrick lives in Newton, Massachusetts

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