Photo of Houston St. from the Texas School Book Depository building

Object number2003.006.0034

DateNovember 1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Creator Federal Bureau of Investigation

ObjectPhotograph (b&w)

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

MediumPaper

Dimensions3 1/2 x 5 in. (8.9 x 12.7 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionBlack and white photographic print of the view of Houston Street from the sixth floor southeast corner window, locatedin the sniper's perch, in 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 Houston Street running diagonally in the center of the photograph with part of the sidewalk at the edge of Dealey Plaza on the right side. The lower levels of the Dallas County Records and Criminal Courts buildings are visible along the left of the photograph with the bottom of the Old Red Courthouse visible in the upper center. There are cars parked on the left side of the photograph and a continuous row of cars driving towards the viewer in the far left lane of the street.

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