Photo of a 2nd floor hallway in the Texas School Book Depository building

Object number2003.006.0020

DateNovember 1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Creator Federal Bureau of Investigation

ObjectPhotograph (b&w)

Credit LineNat Pinkston Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper

Dimensions5 x 4 in. (12.7 x 10.2 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionBlack and white photographic print of a hallway on the second floor of the Texas School Book Depository building. The photo was taken in November 1963 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as evidence in the days following the assassination of President Kennedy. The photograph shows a glass door and panel at the center with a chair, coffee table and "Texas School Book Depository" sign visible on the other side. A wood-paneled wall with an accent table and vase of flowers runs along the left side of the photo.

Curatorial Commentary

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

Curatorial Commentary

The glass panel seen here with "Texas School Book Depository" lettering was one of the original building elements that was saved when the warehouse was renovated by Dallas County in the late 1970s. It is today part of the Museum's Collection. --Stephen Fagin, Curator