/internal/media/dispatcher/50777/full35mm b&w negative of President Kennedy's casket en route to the Capitol11/24/196315/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.7 cm)Film© 2013 Donald Eugene Hughes
Donald Hughes Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2017.062.0003.00020Original 35mm black and white negative with image taken by Donald Hughes, who was a high school yearbook photographer at the time, of President John F. Kennedy's funeral cortege passing by crowds of mourners in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, November 24, 1963, as his casket was making its way from the White House to the United States Capitol building.
Image shows military personnel from all branches escorting President Kennedy's flag-draped casket in the middle of an otherwise empty street. The casket is placed on a horse-drawn caisson; two of the horses are rider-less. Other military personnel are visible in the foreground saluting the procession as it passes. The crowds of mourners are so dense in the middle of the image that there are people visible from the edges of the street up to the sides of buildings in the background. Two buildings are visible in the far background of the image; one has an "Esso" sign above an opening.
The negative is on Kodak Safety Film / Kodak Tri X Pan Film. This image is number 13 on the negative strip (2017.062.0003); this image is the second on the negative strip. All negatives and strips were previously stored in waxed paper negative sleeves that were numbered and organized by Donald Hughes.
(The donor is retaining the copyright to these images.)
Small slight scratches present throughout the surface; slight discoloration throughout. Negative strip is in good condition. (JM 10/30/2017)Photographs656303.65125730252.381254762552331Negative (b&w)0E-10Original 35mm black and white negative of the procession taking President Kennedy's casket to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state on Sunday, November 24, 1963, taken by Donald Hughes, who was a high school yearbook photographer.
Image shows military personnel from all branches escorting President Kennedy's flag-draped casket down the middle of a wide street lined with dense crowds of thousands of onlookers. The casket is placed on a horse-drawn caisson; two of the horses are rider-less. Other military personnel are visible in the foreground saluting the procession as it passes.
President Kennedy's casket lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol for almost twenty-four hours, from Sunday, November 24, 1963, until the morning of Monday, November 25, 1963, when the casket was taken to St. Matthew's Cathedral for the funeral Mass and later to Arlington National Cemetery.
These images are not available online larger than a thumbnail to protect the copyright of their creator(s). For a more detailed examination of this item, please schedule an appointment in the Museum’s Reading Room.PhotographsFuneralCasketProcessionYouthStudentMilitary personnelFlagMournersMourningKennedy, John F.Washington, D.C.Included in the Museum's temporary exhibit, "Mourning a President," about the funeral and mourning rites for President John F. Kennedy, this item will be on display on the Museum's seventh floor from November 17, 2017 to February 19, 2018. -- Lindsey Richardson, Curator of CollectionsSeventeen-year-old Maryland high school student Donald Hughes took a series of black and white photographs of the Kennedy funeral procession from the White House to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Sunday, November 24, 1963. Although Hughes was a yearbook photographer for his high school, he was not "on assignment" that Sunday and does not recall any of his funeral images ending up in the 1964 yearbook. In fact, Hughes' photographs were largely unseen until they were featured online by The New York Times in 2013. Hughes recorded an oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum in 2017. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator