Elmer Boyd Oral History

Object number2007.001.0010

Date02/22/2007

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Elmer Boyd

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

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

MediumHi-8 videotape

Dimensions89 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Elmer Boyd. A Dallas homicide detective in 1963, Boyd was heavily involved in the assassination investigation and served as one of Oswald's primary handlers on Friday and Saturday while he was in custody at the Dallas police department. Boyd was at the Trade Mart, Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Texas School Book Depository and Dallas police headquarters over the weekend. He was with Oswald during his first interrogations, police lineups, paraffin tests and a midnight press showing. Ironically, Boyd previously worked a security detail for Kennedy when the president briefly visited Dallas in 1961. Interview conducted at Mr. Boyd's home on February 22, 2007 by Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator. The interview is one hour and twenty-nine minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Elmer Boyd and his partner Richard Sims are both seen in numerous photographs and in news footage from the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. For example, Boyd can be seen standing next to Lee Harvey Oswald in Bill Winfrey's widely-distributed Dallas Morning News photograph of the suspect raising his fists in the air. Boyd and Sims can also both be seen alongside Oswald at the midnight press showing of the suspect held in the basement assembly room at police headquarters. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator