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FDR enthusiast gathers unique collection

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WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP) -- Mention FDR, and most = people=20 talk about the Great Depression, the New Deal and fireside = chats.

But when Joseph Plaud talks about the longest-serving = president, he=20 comes up with enough material to fill a museum. Which is exactly = what he's=20 done.

Scores of handwritten letters, personal belongings and even = hand prints=20 that were analyzed by a "palmist" are displayed in Plaud's = Franklin D.=20 Roosevelt American Heritage Center & Museum, located in a = seemingly=20 unlikely spot: Worcester's Union Station.

Plaud was in junior high school living in nearby Shrewsbury = when his=20 collection began with a picture he bought of Eleanor Roosevelt and = FDR Jr.=20 for about $50. He found it in a Boston bookstore, and picked it up = after=20 being inspired by his grandmother's countless tales about the 32nd = president.

"She was a young woman during the Depression, and she talked = about him=20 like he was a close personal friend of hers," said Plaud, a = 41-year-old=20 forensic clinical psychologist who wears bow ties, French cuffs = and=20 suspenders.

Plaud owns thousands of FDR-related pieces, spanning = Roosevelt's public=20 service from his time as a New York senator through 12 years in = the White=20 House that reshaped the country with programs of the New Deal.

"It's a remarkable achievement," Jim Roosevelt, one of FDR's 26 = surviving grandchildren, said of Plaud's collection. Roosevelt, = who lives=20 in Cambridge and is president of Tufts Health Plan, says he's = visited the=20 museum several times.

"He's taken an extraordinary collection of real, tangible = history and=20 placed it in a very accessible and attractive place," he said.

Among the most impressive pieces are documents of signatures = from the=20 nine Supreme Court justices and most of the U.S. representatives = and=20 senators sitting in Congress during FDR's 1936 re-election bid. = The=20 autographs were reprinted by the president's campaign in a flier = that=20 billed the signatories as members of the "Franklin D. Roosevelt = for=20 President Club."

There's also a handwritten letter that Roosevelt sent to Jouett = Shouse,=20 chairman of the Democratic National Executive Committee and the = leader of=20 the "Stop Roosevelt" group that failed in its mission at the 1932=20 nominating convention.

"I am not one to hold any rancor towards the give and take of = battle=20 during the pre-nomination campaign, and as you know, I was wholly = ready to=20 support and work for the nominees and the party if someone other = than=20 myself had been chosen," Roosevelt wrote.

There are a number of other, better-known sites related to FDR = around=20 the country, including his home in Hyde Park, New York; his summer = home on=20 Campobello Island, in New Brunswick, Canada, just across the FDR = Memorial=20 Bridge from Lubec, Maine; and the "Little White House" in Warm = Springs,=20 Georgia, where FDR sought relief for his polio by swimming in the = warm=20 local spring waters.

"Every person who walks through the door asks why the museum is = here,"=20 says its director and sole employee, Cyrus Lipsitt.

And they're all given the same quick history lesson about the = New York=20 native's ties to Massachusetts. Roosevelt attended boarding school = in=20 Groton before going to Harvard and made several train stops at = Union=20 Station. But that history almost seems like more of a fortunate=20 coincidence for Plaud.

Until 2004, the documents, pictures, books and knickknacks that = Plaud=20 alternatively categorizes as "ephemera" and "stuff" were hanging = on walls=20 and filling bookshelves and safes in his home in nearby = Whitinsville.

"This is my home," he said. "And this is my stuff. This is = where I want=20 people to be able to see it."

With the collection outgrowing its domestic space, Plaud = established=20 the nonprofit heritage center in 2002. Two years later, he opened = the=20 museum on the second floor of Worcester's refurbished Union = Station.

The collection includes many items that offer unusual insights = into=20 FDR's public and private life, such as the letter Roosevelt sent = in 1927=20 to a man who was seeking treatment for his nephew stricken with = polio.=20 Roosevelt had been diagnosed with the disease six years earlier, = just=20 after his 1920 vice presidential loss.

"A year ago I had great difficulty in walking with braces and = crutches=20 but now get around with a good deal of ease with one brace, one = crutch and=20 one cane," he wrote in the year before he was elected governor of = New=20 York.

That letter gives a more honest accounting than one sent by a = Roosevelt=20 political adviser in 1921 to allay any fears that polio might be = an=20 obstacle to FDR's political rise. The letter downplayed the = illness as a=20 "very mild" case that would have "no permanent effects."

But the pictures showing FDR wearing leg braces and one of the = canes he=20 used prove otherwise.

Along with displays of FDR's statesmanship, Plaud's exhibit = includes a=20 set of hand prints that a so-called palmist used for a character = sketch of=20 the president. The work done by Nellie Simmons Meier came at the = request=20 of Eleanor Roosevelt, who realized that any leak of the = arrangement could=20 cause her husband significant embarrassment.

In a series of letters exchanged between Eleanor Roosevelt and = Meier,=20 the palmist assures the first lady that she wouldn't publish her = findings=20 while FDR was in office.

Meier honored her word, but put her findings in an essay that = is part=20 of Plaud's collection.

She concluded that Roosevelt was a "mental explorer with the = inquiring=20 mind of a research worker interested in experimenting in varied=20 laboratories of unlimited possibilities."

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The Franklin D. Roosevelt American=20 Heritage Center is located in Union Station in Worcester, = Massachusetts.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt American = Heritage=20 Center: Union Station, 2 Washington Square, second floor, = Worcester, Mass.; http://www.fdrheritage.org/ or 508-770-1515. Open = Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free admission.=20

OTHER FDR SITES:=20

Franklin D. Roosevelt = estate,=20 Hyde Park, N.Y.; http://www.nps.gov/hofr/ or 800-337-8474 or = 845-229-9115.=20 Grounds include Springwood, which was FDR's birthplace and family = home,=20 and the Presidential Library and Museum. Eleanor Roosevelt's = cottage,=20 Val-Kill, is also in Hyde Park.=20

Roosevelt Campobello = International=20 Park, Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada (across = the FDR=20 Memorial Bridge from Lubec, Maine); http://www.fdr.net/ or 506-752-2922. Grounds = include FDR's=20 summer home, which is open to tours.=20

The Little White House Historic = Site and F.D. Roosevelt State Park, Warm Springs, Ga., http://www.fdr-littlewhitehouse.org/ or = 706-655-5870.=20

FDR enthusiast gathers unique collection

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