Kerouac's knickknacks go on the road to author's hometown

October 6, 2015 at 1:13 a.m. | Updated October 6, 2015 at 1:15 a.m.

by Associated Press

In this Sept. 18, 2015 photo provided by the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, some of author Jack Kerouac's belongings, including a Frank Sinatra album and collection of figurines, are displayed on the desk where he once wrote, in the exhibit “Kerouac Retrieved: Items from the John Sampas Collection,” at the university in Lowell, Mass. The exhibit opens in Kerouac's hometown on Thursday, Oct. 8. (Tory Germann/University of Massachusetts Amherst, Lowell via AP)
In this Sept. 18, 2015 photo provided by the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, some of author Jack Kerouac's belongings, including a Frank Sinatra album and collection of figurines, are displayed on the desk where he once wrote, in the exhibit “Kerouac Retrieved: Items from the John Sampas Collection,” at the university in Lowell, Mass. The exhibit opens in Kerouac's hometown on Thursday, Oct. 8. (Tory Germann/University of Massachusetts Amherst, Lowell via AP)

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) - The eclectic bric-a-brac that comforted and inspired writer Jack Kerouac is going on the road.

An exhibition of the personal effects that surrounded Kerouac at the simple wooden desk in Florida where he worked before his death opens Thursday in the author's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.

"Kerouac Retrieved" is a hodgepodge of family photos, Christian and Buddhist figurines, knickknacks, homemade cat carriers and record albums by Frank Sinatra and Cole Porter.

Kerouac scholars at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, which is hosting the show, say it helps humanize the Beat Generation author of "On the Road" and other celebrated works.

Kerouac was born in Lowell in 1922. At the time of his death in 1969, he even kept a Lowell telephone directory on his desk.

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