Spaulden Jones Photos at the Sixth Floor Museum

Spaulden Jones. Thanks to Phil Hopley.

A few weeks back the Sixth Floor Museum published a set of colour photographs taken by Spaulden Jones inside the Texas School Book Depository. Jones was a regional manager of Macmillan and Company, which were housed on the third floor of the TSBD.  Spaulden Jones believed that he was on the elevator with Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 at 08:30 as per his notes seen below.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

The next day on the morning of the 23rd, Jones took a series of color photographs on the sixth floor of the Depository, and it is just amazing to see the so called ‘scene’ in colour for a change.

I like the photo of the two men in the so called sniper’s nest with one on the phone and the other being close to the sniper’s position and is fairly well concealed from view unless from relative closeness which this shot perfectly demonstrates. Those pipes look like a bother for a right handed shooter.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Two other photos stood out to me as they were not  taken on the third floor, where the MacMillan office was based inside the TSBD.

They are of the second floor front entrance of the TSBD office of which there is a similar FBI photograph that was published by the Warren Commission in 1964. A quick comparison immediately shows this to be the same front entrance.

Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Click to enlarge. Photo:  Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Second floor office space entrance, click pic to enlarge. From MFF.

I reckon that potential clients of the companies housed inside the TSBD where received through the second floor front entrance. And that also goes for the conference room photo pasted below. There is no other conference room in the building than on the second floor in the back where the upper management such as Jack Cason and Ochus Campbell had their offices. It is nice to see what the conference room looked like. Obviously the books belong to the publishing companies housed on the second, third and fourth floors. No idea of identifying the people in the photographs above the shelf unit are. Nor the Emblem, could be an award?

Click to enlarge. Second floor conference room TSBD. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

Click to enlarge. Second floor conference room TSBD, back of image. Photo: Spaulden Jones – Sixth Floor Museum.

And for more clarification I share the 2nd and 3rd floor plans made by the FBI. For some strange reason rooms 302, 303 and 304 are missing on the third floor plans.

Add on April 14th 2023.

Jones also did an Oral History Interview with the Sixth Floor Museum in 1996.

Spaulden Jones being interviewed in April 1996. Pic.: Sixth Floor Museum. Click to enlarge.

During the first ten minutes he explains what he had done during his career and his position inside the TSBD as a manager for MacMillan book publishing company, he worked from the fourth floor and he had six secretaries working for him.

• He knew Roy Truly very well. Truly was in charge of the physical shipping of the books.
• Jones was out for lunch with Herbert Junker (one of his sales reps) at the closeby Blue Front restaurant when JFK was killed.
• They returned to the TSBD straight after hearing the news. His estimation was that about five or ten minutes had passed.
• He noticed that there was a lot of confusion.
• He had five of his office ladies down out in front of the TSBD when he returned.
• When asking them how many shots they had heard many of them could not precisely recall as to how many they thought they had heard. It differed from 2-4 shots.
• Some of the women were near the front entrance and some were further down Elm St.
• He was milling around and he mentions meeting Wes Wise, but also a suited gentleman who was holding a shoe box  which contained a piece of Kennedy’s skull and which he saw being handed over.
• People were listening to their radios where they would hear that the President was at Parkland hospital. But upon seeing that piece of skull Jones had not much faith in JFK still being alive.
• They, the office people, were let back into the TSBD, but they couldn’t leave.
• Upon return inside the women were very much upset and before they let anyone go they were being interviewed in their office. Strangely enough he cannot remember who questioned them, only that they were not wearing uniforms. He thinks they were FBI or USSS. The ladies were interviewed first.
• He mentions seeing and talking to Doris Burns afterwards. They had questioned her already but would not let her go. After which one of the other older ladies remarked “She won’t tell them her age.”
• When asked what questions he was asked at that time he states: “How many shots did you hear? Where were you standing?”

With special thanks to Gary Murr (for the drawings) and Ed Ledoux for some additional research.