Seán and Susan (MDs of the Irish Photo Archive and Lensmen Photographic Agency respectively) arrived back from New York this morning after an exciting couple of days in the Big Apple launching our digital book President John F. Kennedy Visits Ireland in 1963.

The decision to launch the book in New York was made thanks to Jimmy Deenihan, the newly appointed Minister for Diaspora Affairs.  He had agreed to contribute a foreword to our digital book, and while filming it (utilisng the option of a video foreword for a digital book…), the minister suggested the book should be launched at the Irish Consulate at his welcoming event.

Susan Kennedy, Minister Jimmy Deenihan and Seán Walsh at the launch of
President John F. Kennedy Visits in 1963, 4 November 2014

We were very happy to have the opportunity to meet with the consulate staff in New York; Barbara Jones, Consul General, and Fiona McCabe, Vice Consul General. To show our appreciation to them for allowing us to launch our title there, we brought a print of Kennedy addressing both Houses of the Oireachtas. As you can see from the image below, Kennedy is standing in front of the flag of the colours of the of the 69th New York, the first Regiment of the Irish Brigade, which he presented to the Dáil.

Seán Walsh, Consul General Barbara Jones, and Minister Deenihan
with the presented print of  Kennedy addressing both houses of the Oireachtas, 4 November 2014

We were also happy to meet up with the Irish-American businesses and organisations that had gathered to greet Minister Deenihan. There was a wide variety of sectors represented, as you will see from this brief list of businesses and organisations we encountered:

It’s great to see that the Irish and their descendants are still playing a major part in the US corporate and cultural worlds. If you’d like to see more from the launch, you can view the full range of photos from the launch on the Lensmen website here.

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