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Photo printing plate of Jacqueline Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base
Photo printing plate of Jacqueline Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base

Photo printing plate of Jacqueline Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base

Object number2005.036.0005
Date11/23/1963
ClassificationsArtifacts
ObjectPrinting plate
Credit LineJack H. and Jane C. McNairy Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumMetal
Dimensions7 1/8 x 5 9/16 x 1/16 in. (18.1 x 14.1 x 0.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionRectangular, copper-colored metal printing plate showing Jacqueline Kennedy approaching the Navy ambulance holding President Kennedy's casket at Andrews Air Force Base. Robert F. Kennedy is partially visible behind Mrs. Kennedy. Her suit and legs are bloody. The image is reversed to reproduce correctly on paper. "Jackie Bloody" and initials "cr" (possibly "cn") are handwritten on the back in black grease crayon. The printed image from this plate appeared in the Dallas Times Herald on November 23, 1963.
Curatorial Commentary
Donor Jack McNairy was a high school student in 1963 and worked part-time at the Dallas Times Herald.  Within days of the Kennedy assassination, McNairy noticed a stack of recently-used photographic printing plates that had been discarded in a bin to be melted down and recycled.  Sensing that these photographic plates had historic value, McNairy saved as many as he could and kept them for four decades before donating them to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.  McNairy also recorded an oral history with the Museum in 2003.  - Stephen Fagin, Curator