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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2005
MAJOR EXHIBITION ON INTERNATIONAL WORLD OF ESPIONAGE TO OPEN WITH TALK BY ALSTON PURVIS, SON OF LEGENDARY F.B.I. AGENT MELVIN PURVIS
BOSTON. The Howard
Gotlieb Archival Research
Center will open a major new exhibition entitled .“ESPIONAGE: Intelligence, Secrets and Spies..” on September 20th on the main floor of the Mugar Library, which will run through October
2006. Remarks at the exhibition opening will be given by Alston Purvis, author of the forthcoming book on the battle
between his father, famed F.B.I. Agent Melvin Purvis, and his boss and one-time mentor J. Edgar Hoover, entitled
VENDETTA: FBI HERO MELVIN PURVIS’ WAR AGAINST CRIME, AND J. EDGAR HOOVER’S WAR AGAINST HIM.
Drawing from the more than 2,000 collections housed at the Center, the exhibition ranges from the very real to the
imagined. Beginning with manuscripts related to revolutionary patriot Silas Deane, through the complex personal
tragedies of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs, to the supposed conspiracies in the assassinations of President John F.
Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., the exhibition spans over 200 years of history and intrigue.
In the literary realm, on display are documents relating to the world of spy-master Eric Ambler and the mind games of
Richard Condon’s Manchurian Candidate.
The exhibition presents a broad range of stories and personalities. Some are well-known figures, such as F.B.I.
Agent Melvin Purvis and F.B.I. head J. Edgar Hoover; while others are less familiar, such as the larger than life
exploits of O.S.S. and C.I.A. agent Michael Burke. It explores the Stalin-era drama of secret imprisonment and
unyielding determination as told through the Field family and examines the world of Communist disinformation and the
development of the intelligence gathering process: from personal observation to the “eyes in the sky.”.
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