Dr. James Pennebaker Oral History

Object number2008.001.0081

Date10/17/2008

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Dr. James "Jamie" W. Pennebaker

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

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

MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)

DimensionsDuration: 57 Minutes

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DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Dr. James Pennebaker. A longtime professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, Pennebaker was a social psychologist at Southern Methodist University in the 1980s. In that capacity, he conducted a series of studies in cooperation with the Dallas County Historical Foundation regarding the emotional impact of President Kennedy's assassination. Some of his findings were published in his book Opening Up (1990). Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on October 17, 2008 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-seven minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

In 1997, Dr. Pennebaker donated to the Museum a collection of raw data and research materials related to his studies on the emotional impact of the Kennedy assassination. The Museum's Library Collection also includes a 1997 paperback edition of his book, Opening Up (1990), which details some of the findings of his Kennedy-related studies.

Following this 2008 oral history, Dr. Pennebaker participated in a unique roundtable discussion at the Museum on March 16, 2012 with two individuals who were deeply impacted by the president's death: Dealey Plaza eyewitness Toni Glover and local resident Diane Coady, who turned twelve years old on November 22, 1963. This discussion was recorded at part of the Museum's Oral History Project.

As of 2023, Dr. Pennebaker remains the Regents Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts and Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

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