Sixth Floor Museum

“Dealey Plaza is widely hailed as the birthplace of Dallas, it’s also known for something much more grim — the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.  A new digital exhibit at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza will help visitors explore the events of Nov. 22, 1963 without ever having to leave their homes.  The interactive guide offers a variety of multimedia features, most notably a narrated walking tour that lets visitors explore the site of the Kennedy assassination.  The guide will be the first of its kind, as it offers a detailed history of Dealey Plaza.”  Oral history excerpts are included.  See the guide here.

The Grassy Knoll

Resize of Dallas, Grassy Knoll, JFK assassinationLesley Jenkins is a Life Member of Oral History Queensland and she traveled to the  Chicago History Museum via Dallas to take up a two week Fellowship generously provided by Museums and Gallery Services  Queensland. To find out more you can also visit her blog: http://magsq.wordpresscom

The grassy knoll goes down in history doesn't it as one of the sites linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  Here visitors waited to see the President and his stylish wife, Jackie, drive past. It was from The Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza, then a book depository, that Lee Harvey Oswald purportedly fired the fatal shot. This museum features a lot of oral history and it is both powerful and poignant.  They also have a Living History Series which features talks by all sorts of people who have any connections to the assassination story.  They combine this with an ongoing oral history project that explores the history and culture of Dallas in the 1960s. Unfortunately they don't allow any photos to be taken of the exhibition and there is a feeling of high security as you explore the dark space with the most wonderful audio guide.