Lovita Irby Oral History

Object number2005.001.0006

Date03/09/2005

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Lovita Irby

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumHi-8 videotape

DimensionsDuration: 59 Minutes

Collections

DescriptionA teenager in 1963, Irby was near the corner of Elm and Houston streets at the time of the Kennedy assassination. In 1991, she served as a consultant to Oliver Stone during the making of his film "JFK." In that capacity, she met a number of cast members and original participants from 1963 and extensively photographed the production in Dallas. Irby later donated her photographs to The Sixth Floor Museum. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on March 9, 2005 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-nine minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Lovita Ann Irby passed away on January 29, 2021. In two batches (2005 and 2017), she donated more than 334 photographs from the production of Oliver Stone's JFK in Dallas, including a number of duplicate prints. Irby extensively photographed filming in Dealey Plaza, downtown Dallas and in Oak Cliff at locations including the Texas Theatre and Oswald's original rooming house at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. She also took photographs at the JFK Assassination Information Center in Dallas' West End Marketplace, which Oliver Stone used during the production of JFK. Some of her images may be found here: Search Irby (Objects) – Search – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (jfk.org).

In addition to this one-on-one oral history, Irby returned to the Museum for two follow-up interviews (June 2, 2005 and January 30, 2017) alongside her longtime friend Jim Leavelle. - Stephen Fagin, Curator