Country star Zach Bryan has snapped up Jack Kerouac’s original On the Road scroll and plans to park it right where the author’s legend began: Lowell, Massachusetts. The 120‑foot typescript sold at Christie’s in New York for $12.1 million, and Bryan wants it to serve as the cornerstone of a planned Jack Kerouac Center. The move builds on his purchase last year of a former Lowell church that organizers hope to turn into a museum and performance space.
How the scroll changed hands
According to The Boston Globe, Bryan emerged as the winning bidder during Christie’s sale of the late Jim Irsay’s collection, picking up not just the scroll but also a typescript of The Dharma Bums and three letters to Ed White. Jim Sampas, literary executor of the Kerouac estate, called the buy "a game changer" for the Lowell project. For now, the estate and Bryan’s team are keeping the exact timetable for moving and exhibiting the scroll under wraps.
The manuscript, up close
The Christie’s lot page describes the scroll as roughly 119–120 feet of tracing paper that Kerouac taped together and hammered out on a typewriter in April 1951. The listing traces the manuscript’s ownership trail from Kerouac to Stella Sampas and then to Jim Irsay. Christie’s lot essay also notes the missing end of the scroll, a detail that has become part of Kerouac lore, and walks through conservation work and prior museum showings. Those archival notes will help guide conservators and curators as they figure out how to safely put the piece on public view.
A home for the scroll: Lowell’s church project
Bryan’s plan ties directly to his May 2025 purchase of the former St. Jean Baptiste Church in Lowell, which the Jack Kerouac Estate and local leaders hope to transform into the Jack Kerouac Center. In an interview with GBH, Sampas and other organizers laid out a vision that includes museum galleries, a performance venue and a recording studio tucked inside the church’s vaulted interior. They say the pace of redevelopment will depend on fundraising, permitting and a careful restoration of the historic building.
Fundraising and design work ahead
Per The Boston Globe, the Kerouac estate has brought on Flansburgh Architects to lead the redesign of the church, and officials estimate the overall project could cost $25 million or more. Sampas told the Globe that the acquisition of the scroll "changed the conversation" with potential donors and helped sharpen the center’s pitch to philanthropists.
Why the Christie’s sale mattered
The scroll’s sale came as part of Christie’s multiweek auction of Jim Irsay’s collection, a high‑profile event that featured guitars, manuscripts and other cultural artifacts and drew international attention, according to AP News. The visibility and money generated by the sale have already started to shift where several marquee items are likely to end up on public display.
What comes next for Lowell
Specifics on conservation, transport logistics and opening dates are still in the works. The Jack Kerouac Center’s site and the estate say they will roll out timelines as fundraising and design decisions move forward. If Bryan and the estate see the project through, the scroll could help turn Lowell, already a long‑time Kerouac pilgrimage spot, into a year‑round destination for readers and tourists.
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