Changes at Campobello

Franklin D. Roosevelt relished the summers he spent at Campobello, New Brunswick, teaching his children how to sail and kicking back in the marvelous 34-room cottage that was restored and opened to the public in 1964.

But how pleased would our 32nd president be today with recent changes to the collection inside his beloved home?

Striving for historical accuracy, the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission has removed all items relating to FDR’s 12-year presidency. All remaining artifacts and memorabilia must now fall between 1909 and 1921, the early years Franklin and Eleanor visited the cottage with their five children.

One senior member of the park staff was heard to comment recently, “We’re trying to get used to the changes.” And how. Gone are the four Mongolian prints given to the Roosevelts by Madame Chiang of China and the horse sidesaddle Mr. Roosevelt used as an adult before being stricken with polio in 1921. Some material is in cold storage, other material has been returned to the Roosevelt library in Hyde Park, N.Y. The old radio that broadcasts FDR’s Fireside Chats and a plaster caricature of FDR believed to have been given to Mrs. Roosevelt by Frank Sinatra are displayed in the Campobello visitor center.

The Campobello cottage was one of the last major museums not to limit its display to the years its occupants lived there, but there’s something jarring about losing historical treasures, replaced by mere props, like packs of Lucky Strikes, Franklin’s favorite brand, tossed onto the living room table.

The commission should be commended for leaving many fine items in the cottage and for representing Mr. Roosevelt’s presidency with a panel of words and pictures inside the home. But it should listen to visitors’ comments; if too many say they’d like a total picture of a great statesman and his family, then return some of the presidential items to their former home.

For more information on the cottage, and the 2,800-acre park in which it is located, click onto www.fdr.net. It’s fitting the first multimedia president — FDR utilized radio, newsreels, even early TV — now has his own Web site.