Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

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Sixth Floor Museum
Dallas July 2015 09 (Texas School Book Depository).jpg
The Texas School Book Depository, now the Dallas County Administration Building
Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
EstablishedFebruary 20, 1989
LocationDealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas (411 Elm Street Dallas, TX 75202)
Coordinates 32°46′47″N96°48′31″W / 32.7798°N 96.8085°W / 32.7798; -96.8085
TypeHistoric
Visitors400,000
DirectorNicola Longford
CuratorStephen Fagin
Public transit access DART 11,12,19,21,35,60,63,81/82,161,164, 283
Website www.jfk.org

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is a museum located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building, formerly the Texas School Book Depository, in downtown Dallas, Texas, overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets. The museum examines the life, times, death, and legacy of United States President John F. Kennedy, and the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as the various conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.

Contents

The museum's exhibition area uses historic films, photographs, artifacts, and interpretive displays to document the events of the assassination, the reports by government investigations that followed, and the historical legacy of the tragedy. The museum is self-sufficient in funding, relying solely on donations and ticket sales. It rents the space from the County of Dallas.

The museum was founded by the Dallas County Historical Foundation. [1] It opened on Presidents' Day, February 20, 1989. [2]

A museum webcam features a live view from the sixth floor sniper's nest. It is not meant to glorify the shooting in any way. [3]

In December 1999, the Zapruder family donated the copyright to the Zapruder film to The Sixth Floor Museum, along with one of the first-generation copies made on November 22, 1963, and other copies of the film. The Zapruder family no longer retains any copyrights to the film, which are now controlled entirely by the museum. The original camera negative is in the possession of the National Archives and Records Administration.

In February 2007, the previously unreleased 8 mm film footage of Kennedy's motorcade, donated to the museum by George Jefferies and his son-in-law, was shown publicly for the first time. The 40-second film, silent and in color, showed the motorcade before the assassination, as well as part of Dealey Plaza the following day. The Jefferies film was described as capturing "a beaming Jacqueline Kennedy," as well as showing Kennedy's suit jacket bunched-up in the back at that moment, about two minutes before Kennedy entered Dealey Plaza. [4]

Over the years, the museum has offered exhibits, access to a catalog of some 2,500 oral history recordings [5] and speaker events with book authors and other prominent figures related to JFK, Oswald and the historic and cultural significance of the infamous presidential visit. For the 60th anniversary in November 2023, it offered some timely speaker programs. [6] Its "JFK Was Here" banners to highlight the historical significance of places along the 1963 motorcade route from Love Field (airport) to Dealey Plaza [7] were met with mixed reactions about reminders of the city's dark and painful day. [8] [9]

This is a view from the next window over from the sixth floor shooting position. The yellow line shows the route of Kennedy's motorcade. There is an 'x' on the road marking the location of the fatal bullet which struck Kennedy. 6th Floor Window View.jpg
This is a view from the next window over from the sixth floor shooting position. The yellow line shows the route of Kennedy's motorcade. There is an 'x' on the road marking the location of the fatal bullet which struck Kennedy.

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of John F. Kennedy</span> 1963 murder of the 35th U.S. President

    On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife, Nellie, when he was fatally shot from the nearby Texas School Book Depository by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting; Connally was also wounded in the attack but recovered. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was hastily sworn in as president two hours and eight minutes later aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Hill</span> Eyewitness to President John F. Kennedys assassination

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Dealey Plaza</span> Dallas, Texas, U S. historic place

    Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. 30 minutes after the shooting, Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The Dealey Plaza Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark on the 30th anniversary of the assassination, to preserve Dealey Plaza, street rights-of-way, and buildings and structures by the plaza visible from the assassination site, that have been identified as witness locations or as possible locations for the assassin.

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    Abraham Zapruder was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He unexpectedly captured the shooting in a home movie while filming the presidential limousine and motorcade as it traveled through Dealey Plaza. The Zapruder film is regarded as the most complete footage of the assassination.

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    The Dal-Tex Building is a seven-story office building located at 501 Elm Street in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The building is located on the northeast corner of Elm and North Houston streets, across the street from the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, the scene of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The Dal-Tex Building, sometimes called the Dallas-Textiles Building, the Dal-Tex Market Building, or the Dal-Tex Mart Building, was a center of the textile business in Dallas.

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapruder film</span> 1963 film of the John F. Kennedy assassination

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    David R. Wrone is an American academic, author and historian. He is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a specialist in the fields of Native American history and political assassinations, writing books and articles on the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.

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    References

    1. Noland, Eric (November 15, 2003). "Popularity and mystique; Museum in former Texas School Book Depository founded in response to visitors to the JFK assassination scene". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Retrieved August 13, 2014. Syndicated from the Los Angeles Daily News.
    2. "History of the Texas School Book Depository". jfk.org. The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
    3. EarthCam - Dealey Plaza Cam
    4. Stoddard, Ed (February 19, 2007). "New footage of JFK in Dallas released". Reuters . Reuters. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
    5. STENGLE, JAMIE (2023-11-22). "JFK assassination remembered 60 years later by surviving witnesses to history, including AP reporter". The Register Citizen. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
    6. Goodman, Matt (2023-11-14). "Reporter Darwin Payne Opens Up His Old Notebooks to Tell a New Story About JFK's Assassination". D Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
    7. "60th Anniversary Banners | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza" . Retrieved 2023-11-22.
    8. "'JFK Was Here' banners in Dallas met with mixed reaction". Yahoo News. 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
    9. Boyer, Alex (2023-11-17). "'JFK Was Here' banners put up in Dallas by Sixth Floor Museum to mark 60 years since JFK's assassination". FOX 4. Retrieved 2023-11-22.

    Further reading

    32°46′47″N96°48′30″W / 32.77972°N 96.80833°W / 32.77972; -96.80833