Skip to main content
Photo from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository building
Photo from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository building

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

Object number2003.006.0038
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)
DescriptionBlack and white photographic print of part of Dealey Plaza and the triple underpass taken from the sixth floor southeast corner window, located in 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 the triple underpass at the right side of the photograph with Commerce and Main Streets running across the bottom of the image. Roads, trees and buildings are visible in the background of the photo. Part of the window frame is seen at the right side of the image.
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