James R. Owen Oral History

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Videotaped oral history interview with James R. Owen. Owen worked at Jaggers-Chiles-Stoval typesetting company in Dallas at the same time as Lee Harvey Oswald. On the day of the Kennedy assassination, Owen remembers standing on Elm Street on the other side of the Triple Underpass, although his memories of the assassination aftermath differ from those of other eyewitnesses. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on January 15, 2002 by Gary Mack, Arlinda Abbott and Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and four minutes long.

Object Details

Object title:

James R. Owen Oral History

Date:

01/15/2002

Medium:

Hi-8 videotape

Dimensions:

Duration: 64 Minutes

Credit line:

Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2002.001.0002

Curatorial Note:

James R. "Shorty" Owen is a good example of a surprise, on-the-spot oral history. He accompanied his friend, Darryl Conine, to The Sixth Floor Museum on January 15, 2002. Mr. Conine, who had worked in the Texas School Book Depository building when it was leased by John Sexton and Company, was scheduled to record an oral history (that had been rescheduled after the September 11th terrorist attacks a few months earlier). Prior to the interview with Mr. Conine, Mr. Owen shared that he had worked at Jaggers-Chiles-Stoval typesetting company in Dallas at the same time as Lee Harvey Oswald and had also been on Elm Street, on the other side of the Triple Underpass, at the time of the assassination. Curator Gary Mack was then quite eager to record an on-the-spot interview with Owen, which took place immediately after Mr. Conine's interview.Following this 2002 interview, Mr. Owen returned to the Museum for a second oral history in 2015. His friend, Darryl Conine, also returned for a follow-up interview in 2013. Conine's 2013 oral history may be found here: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/38410/. - Stephen Fagin, Curator