/internal/media/dispatcher/49355/fullImage of Lee Harvey Oswald's casket the day of his burial11/25/19631 3/8 × 1 7/16 in. (3.5 × 3.7 cm)FilmGene Gordon Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2016.047.0020.00020One original 35mm black and white negative with image taken by Fort Worth Press chief photographer Gene Gordon of scenes from Rose Hill Memorial Park on November 25, 1963, the day of the funeral and burial of Lee Harvey Oswald. This image shows the top half of the cover of Oswald's casket at the gravesite at Rose Hill Cemetery; the nameplate reads "LEE HARVEY OSWALD / 1939 - 1963". The cover of the casket has a texture all over the surface; the nameplate is raised. At the bottom center of the image part of the casket's flower arrangement is visible.
The negative is on Kodak Safety Film / Kodak Tri X Pan Film. This image is number 1 on the negative strip (2016.047.0020); this image is the second on the fifth negative strip. All negatives and strips were previously stored in plastic negative storage pages numbered and organized by Gene Gordon.
See also contact sheet, 2014.087.0124. This negative image is labeled "J - 1", and is the top center image on large contact sheet, 2014.087.0151.
(The copyright to these images was acquired in 2014. They were represented on contact sheets in that acquisition. SEE DOCUMENTATION for 2014.087)
Small slight scratches present throughout the surface; slight discoloration throughout. (JM 12/28/2016)Photographs659253.65125730253.492506985047275Negative (b&w)0E-10One original 35mm black and white negative taken by Fort Worth Press chief photographer Gene Gordon. The image shows the top of Lee Harvey Oswald's casket graveside at Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth. The nameplate reads "LEE HARVEY OSWALD 1939 - 1963."PhotographsNewspapersFuneralCasketPhotographerOswald funeralFlowersGravesideOswald graveOswald, Lee HarveyGordon, GeneFort Worth PressRose Hill CemeteryFort WorthGene Henderson Gordon (1929 - 2023) got his first job as a professional photographer at the age of 19 in 1948 at the Fort Worth Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper launched in 1921. Less than five years later, Gordon was promoted to chief photographer, a position that he still held at the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Gordon covered the Kennedys' arrival at Carswell Air Force Base on the night on November 21st and, a few hours later, President Kennedy's parking lot speech at the Hotel Texas and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the hotel's ballroom. Following the assassination, he covered the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth on November 25th. Gene Gordon remained at the Fort Worth Press until the paper ceased publication in 1975, after which he became a staff photographer, later chief photographer, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He retired in 1997 after half a century as a professional photographer in Fort Worth.
We were honored to record oral history interviews with Gene in 2003 and 2015. He also participated in two programs at The Sixth Floor Museum, including this Living History educational program in 2017: Living History with Gene Gordon (youtube.com). The Museum acquired his collection of Kennedy-related negatives and prints in 2014 and 2016. Gene Gordon passed away on March 16, 2023. - Stephen Fagin, Curator