Jackie O's Private Letters Pulled From Auction

Personal letters written by Jackie Kennedy won't be going up for auction after all, reports the BBC. All Hallows College in Ireland has called off the sale after a barrage of criticism and is now talking with the Kennedy family on "how best to preserve and curate this archive for the future." Jackie wrote more than 30 letters from 1950 to 1964 to an Irish priest who lived at the college, and there they sat all this time. The school revealed their existence last week, along with plans for the auction and a likely multimillion-dollar payday.

The college didn't say why it canceled the Dublin sale, but the Boston Globe notes that it had endured criticism that it was cashing in on intimate letters never intended to be made public. Among other things, Jackie wrote to Father Joseph Leonard of her concerns about JFK's infidelity, her own faith, and her husband's assassination. It's still not clear whether the letters will end up in the John F. Kennedy Library or whether the college will get any money for them. (More Kennedy family stories.)