Rev. Zan Holmes, Jr. Oral History

It was a great honor to record this oral history with Rev. Zan Holmes, a legendary community leader here in Dallas. I first met Rev. Holmes in 2015 when he participated in a special exhibit on the Museum's seventh floor, "Portraits: History Lived," a collaboration between the Museum and The Dallas Morning News. Rev. Holmes was one of several Dallas residents who took part in an interview and photography session with former Morning News staff photographer Andy Jacobsohn. This exhibit of modern portraits examined "people on the edges, the minor characters...whose own lives were forever changed by the seminal events of history." Subjects were often photographed at locations significant to their story; for Rev. Holmes, this meant standing in front of the Dallas Trade Mart where he attended the presidential luncheon on November 22, 1963. As of spring 2022, an interactive exploration of "Portraits: History Lived" is still available on The Dallas Morning News website: John F. Kennedy Portraits: History Lived (dallasnews.com). -- Stephen Fagin, Curator