George Jefferies film

When the George Jefferies film was publicly released in February 2007, it attracted international attention. In the aftermath, Mr. Jefferies was asked to give several interviews with news agencies around the world. In his oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum recorded March 5, 2007, the 84-year-old wryly remarked, "If that was fifteen [minutes of fame], I don't want twenty! No, I won't say I haven't enjoyed it, but it's been pretty hectic." In addition to his oral history, Jefferies participated in a videotaped public program at the  Museum on June 6, 2008. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator

Like many home movie enthusiasts, George Jefferies edited his home movie reels and compiled them onto one large reel.  At some point in time, Jefferies removed the Kennedy motorcade and Dealey Plaza sequences and re-inserted them into the master reel.  As a result, a few brief scenes appear out of sequence.  They are presented here exactly as received when Jefferies donated the family home movies to The Sixth Floor Museum. 

The young girl holding local newspapers up to the camera is his daughter, Bonnie.  Decades later her husband, Wayne Graham, wondered whether the film might have historical significance and was the first to suggest donating his father-in-law's film to The Sixth Floor Museum. - Gary Mack, Curator

The Museum publicly announced the acquisition of this previously unknown home movie of the motorcade on February 19, 2007—in recognition of Presidents Day and the Museum’s 18th anniversary. The Jefferies film footage was posted on our website and released to the media for use in news stories for a limited period. We were surprised by the sheer volume of the response. What we had thought would likely be a local interest story in Dallas ended up receiving international attention and was picked up by media outlets worldwide. So many people wanted to see the film on our website that the site was briefly overwhelmed and crashed. Luckily one of our local media partners offered to mirror the film for us on their site, and we were able to continue providing access to the film. This release of the Jefferies film, coupled with our temporary exhibit Filming Kennedy: Home Movies From Dallas, which opened later that same year, led to donations of several additional home movie films. – Megan Bryant, Director of Collections & Intellectual Property