Jim Anderson Oral History
- Oral histories
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- City of Dallas
- Texas School Book Depository
- Texas Theatre
- Old Red Courthouse
- Dallas
- Authors, Filmmakers, and Researchers (OHC)
- Childhood Recollections (OHC)
- History of 411 Elm Street and The Sixth Floor Museum (OHC)
- Dallas and 1960s History and Culture (OHC)
Hired by the City of Dallas in September 1984, Jim Anderson was the first urban planner to hold the position of Historic Preservation Planner. His title was later changed to Historic Preservation Officer.
In 1991, Anderson had a unique connection to the filming of Oliver Stone's JFK in Dallas. The house next door to Anderson on historic Swiss Avenue in Dallas was briefly rented by the filmmaker and transformed into, as Anderson described it, "a Cuban drug house" for a scene in JFK. Anderson recalled, "They left the house as it was, in disrepair with cobwebs and dirt and dusty. They brought in an old bedroll and a pin-up picture of a little Cuban girl and like a bottle of rum or something there." Meanwhile, the home across from Anderson on Swiss Avenue served as a stand-in for the Oswalds' Fort Worth apartment. "There was an elderly woman who lived there, and she loved the 1960s," remembered Anderson. "They brought all these 1960s television and draperies and things... [and] they actually left some things behind for her." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
