Voices from History: Dallas Law Enforcement

Start date: Monday, November 20, 2006
Event is ongoing: Until Sunday, August 5, 2007

Voices from History: Dallas Law Enforcement, a temporary exhibition, explores the personal experiences of Dallas Police Department and Dallas Sheriff's Department officers working the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. Told through photographs, videos, personal artifacts, and selections from the Museum’s Oral History Collection, the exhibition is presented in four sections—Dealey Plaza, Oak Cliff, Dallas Police headquarters, and the shooting of Oswald.

Among the artifacts featured are Dallas County Deputy Sheriff Gene Boone’s customized .45 automatic pistol; equipment and supplies from a crime scene kit used by Lt. J. “Carl” Day, head of the Dallas Police crime lab; clothing worn by detectives Jim Leavelle and L.C. Graves as they escorted assassination suspect Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot by Jack Ruby; and material from the John F. Kennedy Collection at the Dallas Municipal Archives.

Special programs include:

Wednesday, January 17, 7 p.m. Judge Joe B. Brown, Jr. introduces the Voices from History: Dallas Law Enforcement program series and the inaugural program, a discussion between retired Dallas Police detective Jim Leavelle and former KRLD news director Eddie Barker. Leavelle was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when the suspect in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination was shot by Jack Ruby. Barker was the first reporter to announce that Kennedy was dead. Topics include the Kennedy assassination, the murder of Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit, the arrest and shooting of Oswald, and how the media and law enforcement worked together the weekend of the assassination. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Monday, February 19, 2 p.m. Local historian Sam Childers, Old Red Museum of Dallas County History and Culture, talks about the sitting presidents, presidential candidates, and former presidents who visited Dallas, beginning in 1910 with President William Howard Taft. Childers also covers other 20th century events including campaign whistle stops and the assassination of President Kennedy.

Wednesday, March 7, 7 p.m. Dallas City archivist John Slate focuses on the John F. Kennedy Collection, comprised of records from the Dallas Police Department. Transferred to the archives in 1989, the collection contains over 11,400 documents and photographs, including homicide reports, affidavits, witness statements, fingerprint cards and mug shots, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. Original artifacts from the archives will be on display as part of the exhibit. Doors open at 6:30 p.m

Wednesday, April 18, 7 p.m. Moderated by acclaimed journalist Hugh Aynesworth, who covered the Kennedy assassination as a Dallas Morning News reporter, panelists Paul Bentley and Jerry Hill talk about their roles as Dallas Police officers involved in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theater on November 22, 1963. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Information from venue's website