Skip to main content

Marshall Terry Oral History

Object number2003.001.0017
Date06/18/2003
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Marshall Terry
Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumHi-8 videotape
DimensionsDuration: 123 Minutes
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Marshall Terry. A novelist and short story writer, Terry was an English professor and administrator at Southern Methodist University in Dallas for more than sixty years. Nicknamed "Mr. SMU," he was considered an authority on the university's history. His book, Dallas Stories (1987), included a short story about the Kennedy assassination. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on June 18, 2003 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is two hours and three minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
As an undergraduate at SMU majoring in history and English, I had the extraordinary privilege to take virtually every class then offered by Marshall Terry. Soft spoken and exceptionally witty, he guided me through my studies in creative writing and even offered some sage relationship advice along the way. By the time of my graduation, he had become a trusted friend. A little over two years after graduating, I invited him to be a part of the Museum's Oral History Project and was thrilled to spend yet another afternoon with him, recording a variety of Dallas and SMU stories from the 1950s and 1960s. Marshall Terry passed away on December 24, 2016. - Stephen Fagin, Curator