| Sixth Floor Museum | |
| Coordinates: | 32.7798°N -96.8085°W |
| Established: | February 20, 1989 |
| Location: | Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas (411 Elm Street Dallas, TX 75202) |
| Type: | Historic |
| Visitors: | 400,000 |
| Director: | Nicola Longford |
| Curator: | Stephen Fagin |
| Publictransit: | DART 11,12,19,21,35,60,63,81/82,161,164, 283 |
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is a museum located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building, formerly the Texas School Book Depository, in downtown Dallas, Texas, overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets. The museum examines the life, times, death, and legacy of United States President John F. Kennedy, and the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, as well as the various conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.
The museum's exhibition area uses historic films, photographs, artifacts, and interpretive displays to document the events of the assassination, the reports by government investigations that followed, and the historical legacy of the tragedy. The museum is self-sufficient in funding, relying solely on donations and ticket sales. It rents the space from the County of Dallas.
The museum was founded by the Dallas County Historical Foundation.[1] It opened on Presidents' Day, February 20, 1989.[2]
A museum webcam features a live view from the sixth floor sniper's nest.[3]
In December 1999, the Zapruder family donated the copyright to the Zapruder film to The Sixth Floor Museum, along with one of the first-generation copies made on November 22, 1963, and other copies of the film. The Zapruder family no longer retains any copyrights to the film, which are now controlled entirely by the museum. The original camera negative is in the possession of the National Archives and Records Administration.
In February 2007, the previously unreleased 8 mm film footage of Kennedy's motorcade, donated to the museum by George Jefferies and his son-in-law, was shown publicly for the first time. The 40-second film, silent and in color, showed the motorcade before the assassination, as well as part of Dealey Plaza the following day. The Jefferies film was described as capturing "a beaming Jacqueline Kennedy," as well as showing Kennedy's suit jacket bunched-up in the back at that moment, about two minutes before Kennedy entered Dealey Plaza.[4]
Over the years, the museum has offered exhibits, access to a catalog of some 2,500 oral history recordings[5] and speaker events with book authors and other prominent figures related to JFK, Oswald and the historic and cultural significance of the infamous presidential visit. For the 60th anniversary in November 2023, it offered some timely speaker programs.[6] Its "JFK Was Here" banners to highlight the historical significance of places along the 1963 motorcade route from Love Field (airport) to Dealey Plaza[7] were met with mixed reactions about reminders of the assassination.[8] [9]