Jimmy Carter almost stops wedding

Having been working with these collections for over a year, the types of stories that stick out to me has changed. When I first started I mainly noticed ones I recognized from my previous knowledge of Massachusetts’ history, or ones that struck a more serious note, like violent protests or murders. However, everyone once in a while a story will just seem simply absurd. Imagine my surprise when I found myself typing into our FileMaker database,

Lynn Wedding Plans Foiled: by none other than James Earl Carter.  Carter’s visit conflicts with the wedding because the church is across the street and the security all want to close the church. The wedding will, however, go on.

[caption id="attachment_1177" align="alignright" width="244"] President Jimmy Carter, courtesy Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

While I know from current news coverage (and watching a lot of The West Wing) that the president’s security can be pretty tight, and closing down a nearby church would not necessarily be out of the question, I can just not imagine being told that there was a chance my wedding would be postponed because Jimmy Carter was going to be across the street. To verify that this wasn’t some crazy prank of the news team (these WCVB guys are pretty entertaining) I went looking for some proof that Carter had actually been in Lynn that day. I’m glad I did because that search led me to the coolest resource I’ve found in a while, the daily diary of Jimmy Carter, while he was president, as kept by one of his staff, and available online at: http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/diary/

This experience gave me a new appreciation for my job here at ‘GBH, knowing that these news stories will forever keep me amused and sometimes provide the opportunity to discover even more than I expect to.