Jay and Erma Skaggs Oral History

A little over thirty-eight years after the Kennedy assassination, Jay Skaggs brought a shoebox filled with slides and prints to The Sixth Floor Museum. While apologizing for not capturing any of the shooting on film, he very humbly shared that day a remarkable treasure trove of unseen color photographs of the Kennedy limousine on Houston Street and the aftermath of the assassination. Among this collection were the only known color photos of the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle being removed from the Texas School Book Depository. I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Skaggs that day, and I will forever remember how increasingly ecstatic Curator Gary Mack became as he looked through the images. Mr. Skaggs generously donated the images on the spot, and we soon scheduled this lengthy oral history with Jay and his wife, Erma, who had never given any interviews about their memories of the assassination. Whenever I get asked if I think we'll see any new films or photographs of the Kennedy assassination come to light, I always point to the time when Jay Skaggs, shoebox under one arm, walked into the Museum's lobby.

 Jay Skaggs passed away on April 13, 2009. Erma Skaggs passed away on January 13, 2015. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator