History Preserved

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is the case, the roughly 1,000 images on film negatives documenting President John F. Kennedy's assassination archived at UTA Libraries’ cold storage facility are an eyewitness to the events of Nov. 22, 1963.  

The White House website states that President Kennedy was hardly past his first thousand days in office when an assassin’s bullets killed him as his motorcade traveled through Dallas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President and was the youngest to die.  

Sara Pezzoni, Photo Collections Coordinator, stated that the JFK negatives came to the university as part of the photo archive donation from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The negatives show how this tragic moment in history was documented by photojournalists from different points of view.  

“It is just interesting to look back, learn, and see all the different sides of this moment,” Sara said. “These are actual photos. They are not doctored. It is there to show you what really happened, and I think that we can all really learn from that, too.” 

The photos captured the events before the assassination, such as his arrival in Dallas, interactions with the public, and the crowd gathered along the route of the motorcade. They also capture the chaos after the shooting and the moments at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.  

Sara stated that some of the photos that speak to her are images of elementary school children on the street waiting patiently to get a glimpse of the president upon his arrival to Fort Worth. She noted that “They are waving, holding signs and are so excited.” 

Over the years, UTA Libraries have been contacted by researchers, film companies and museums about the negatives.  

A few of the images have been a part of several temporary exhibits at The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. The museum is located inside the former Texas School Book Depository in downtown Dallas, where the fatal shots rang out.  

Of the roughly 1,000 negatives, only 355 have been scanned and can be viewed online through the UTA Libraries Digital Gallery website.  

The library also has a digital exhibit, “Howdy, Mr. President: A Fort Worth Perspective of JFK,” that can be viewed online.  

People can also email Sara at sara.pezzoni@uta.edu to view the contact sheets of the negatives or if they have any questions about the collection.  

Sara stated that she is proud that UTA Libraries is the caretaker of this precious historical resource so future generations can learn about this world-changing event.  

 

So, if you have some free time, the negatives are a great way to learn about history from the eyes of the people who captured it with a click of a shutter.