/internal/media/dispatcher/73276/fullJay and Erma Skaggs Oral History03/13/2002Duration: 122 MinutesHi-8 videotapeOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2002.001.00090Videotaped oral history interview with Jay and Erma Skaggs -- Standing at the corner of Main and Houston Streets to watch the presidential motorcade, Mr. and Mrs. Skaggs heard shots fired and then remained in Dealey Plaza for over an hour after the assassination. Mr. Skaggs photographed the motorcade and the aftermath in Dealey Plaza, and after keeping his slides in a shoebox for nearly forty years, donated these previously unseen images to The Sixth Floor Museum.Oral Histories6383321468Oral historyVideotaped oral history interview with Jay and Erma Skaggs. Standing at the corner of Main and Houston Streets, the Skaggs heard shots fired at the Kennedy motorcade and remained in Dealey Plaza for over an hour after the assassination. Mr. Skaggs photographed the motorcade and the aftermath in Dealey Plaza, and he later donated these significant, previously unseen color images to The Sixth Floor Museum in 2002.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on March 13, 2002 by Gary Mack and Stephen Fagin. The interview is two hours and two minutes long.Grassy knollRiflesOral historiesSkaggs, JaySkaggs, ErmaTexas School Book DepositoryDallasMotorcade Spectators (OHC)Dealey Plaza Eyewitnesses (OHC)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