Photo of the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository building

Object number2003.006.0024

DateNovember 1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Creator Federal Bureau of Investigation

ObjectPhotograph (b&w)

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

MediumPaper

Dimensions4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.7 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionBlack and white photographic print of the interior of the sixth 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. A window is on the right side of the photograph with stacks of cardboard boxes labeled "Books" on the left side and center back. There is a wooden 'dolly' or sled in the center of the photograph, probably used to move heavy boxes around. This photograph was likely taken west of the sniper's perch, along the south wall.

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