Membership card to Jack Ruby's Carousel Club

Object numberL2017.1.13.24

Datecirca 1962

ClassificationsDocuments

Creator Jack Ruby

ObjectCard

Credit LineLoaned Courtesy the Dallas County District Attorney's Office/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper, Plastic

Dimensions3 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (8.9 × 5.7 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionLaminated membership card to Jack Ruby's Carousel Club; issued to Ray Hawkins. The card gives the Carousel Club address and phone number, is numbered 227, and indicates that Hawkins is welcome "any nite [sic] except Sat., Holidays & Special Occasions". The last line on the card reads: "This Pass Revokable [sic], Discretion of Management". Ray Hawkins was part of the Accident Prevention Bureau, Traffic Division, Dallas Police Department. It is unknown why specifically Jack Ruby had this card in his possession at the time of his arrest on November 24, 1963; along with other items of personal property it was confiscated as evidence from Ruby's vehicle by the Dallas Police Department. This object was originally part of the evidence collected by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and specifically prosecutors Henry Wade and Bill Alexander during the investigation leading up to the Jack Ruby trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Curatorial Commentary

This card is a good example of the relationship that Ruby often tried to build with Dallas law enforcement and news media. Some accounts suggest that virtually the entire Dallas Police Department was acquainted with Ruby at the time of the assassination. Testifying before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Jack Revill, who had led the Dallas Police Department's internal investigation into the Oswald shooting, estimated that approximately 100 to 150 employees of the police department (out of about 1,200) knew Ruby in 1963. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Curatorial Commentary

In order to ensure its long-term care and preservation and to facilitate public access, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office placed their Jack Ruby Trial Collection (sometimes referred to as "the DA's Jack Ruby file") on long-term loan with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in 2017. The Museum is working to make the entire collection accessible through this online collections database. To find out more about this collection or to access materials not yet included here, contact the Museum's Reading Room at readingroom@jfk.org. - Megan Bryant, Director of Collections & Interpretation

Curatorial Commentary

This item, along with materials from the DA's Ruby file (which is on loan to the Museum) and from the Museum's permanent collection, briefly appeared in a temporary display on the Museum's seventh floor in 2017. - Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections