Photograph of the exterior of 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

As clearly seen in this photograph, a number of windows on the south side of the Texas School Book Depository sported painted circles in 1963. Over the years, these circles have frequently been misunderstood. Even though there are at least ten circles visible here, many tourists at the time mistakenly assumed that one marked the "assassin's window." However, the southeast corner window on the sixth floor never had such a circle. One conspiracy theory even suggested that the mysterious circles may have been used to pinpoint sniper positions at the time of the assassination. In reality, these circles were simply indicators used by the Dallas Fire Department to show where ladder trucks could access the various floors in case of fire. In the 1960s, a number of downtown buildings had similar circles painted on windows. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator