Bert Shipp Oral History
Object number1992.009.0012
Date11/17/1992
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Bert Shipp
Oral history interviewer
Wes Wise
Oral history interviewer
Bob Porter
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumHi-8 videotape
Dimensions75 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Bert Shipp. As Assistant News Director and Chief Photographer at WFAA-TV in 1963, Shipp was at the Dallas Trade Mart luncheon and then went to Parkland Memorial Hospital after the assassination. He remained very active in the local coverage that weekend.
Interview conducted at Mr. Shipp's home on November 17, 1992 by Wes Wise with Bob Porter. The interview is one hour and fifteen minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryMr. Shipp passed away on April 20, 2015. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Bert Shipp used a 16mm Bell & Howell DR camera to capture footage outside the Dallas Trade Mart and Parkland Memorial Hospital on the day of the assassination. Shipp donated that camera to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and it has been on public display since 1996. In this oral history, a photograph of Shipp holding that camera, or an identical model camera, can be seen in the photograph above his right shoulder. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Of the three network affiliates in Dallas-Fort Worth in 1963, the WFAA news department was the smallest. Nevertheless, the exclusive news films of investigators searching the inside of the Texas School Book Depository, combing the scene where Officer J.D. Tippit was killed, and the arrest of suspect Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theatre were all made by WFAA photographers reporting directly to Bert Shipp. One of his sons, Brett Shipp, has been an investigative reporter at WFAA since 1995. - Gary Mack, Curator
circa 1960
