Photo of the sniper's perch in the Texas School Book Depository building

This FBI photographic print was in the personal collection of retired agent Nat A. Pinkston (1915-2011). Pinkston was a Dallas attorney prior to joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He retired from the Dallas FBI office in 1967 after twenty-eight years of service. Pinkston was involved in the local assassination investigation, notably tracing ownership of the Mannlicher-Carcano found in the Depository to employee Lee Harvey Oswald. He was also dispatched to the Texas School Book Depository on December 2, 1963, after Lee Harvey Oswald's clipboard was discovered in the northwest corner of the sixth floor near where the rifle had been found shortly after the assassination. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

According to the Warren Commission, the standard box size in the sniper’s perch was approximately 18 by 12 by 14 inches. On average, these book boxes weighed around fifty-five pounds. There were also two smaller "Rolling Readers" boxes stacked just in front of the open southeast corner window where a rifle may have been rested at the time of the shooting. These two smaller boxes measured approximately 12 by 9 by 8 inches. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator