Image of floral tributes in Dealey Plaza after the assassination, Slide #17
Object number2001.004.0014
Date11/23/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer
Jerry Mainer
ObjectSlide
Credit LineJerry Mainer Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions2 x 2 in. (5.1 x 5.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm color slide taken by amateur photographer Jerry Mainer. Image shows floral tributes on the north side of Elm street in Dealey Plaza on the afternoon of November 23, 1963, the day after the assassination of President Kennedy. Mourners and the north pergola are seen in the background.
Curatorial CommentaryThe slides are numbered sequentially starting at #4 and going through #36, skipping #20, for a total of 32 slides. They were donated to the Museum like this, and it is unknown what happened to the missing slides from this sequence. - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager
Dealey Plaza was transformed into a memorial shrine during the weekend of the assassination as mourners left wreaths, floral displays and notecards in memory of President Kennedy. One plaza visitor, George Reid, recalled in his Museum oral history: "People were starting to leave things and then, by Sunday morning, there was quite a bit of stuff there--quite a lot of flowers.... And people were coming down there, and people were standing there crying. People just bawling and just talking to each other, hugging each other, you know. It was an emotional scene that day." - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Although none of the floral arrangements or wreaths could be saved, the Dallas Park Department collected notecards and other written tributes that were left in Dealey Plaza following the assassination. Today, the Dallas Public Library has four binders of these cards in their holdings. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Jerry Mainer
11/23/1963