“Howdy, Mr. President! "

About the Exhibit

UT Arlington Library’s Special Collections exhibit “Howdy, Mr. President!” showcases over 80 intriguing photographs taken by Fort Worth Star-Telegram news photographers. The Star-Telegram JFK collection contains almost 3,000 photo negatives taken during the visit by President John F. Kennedy to Fort Worth and the subsequent events following his assassination in Dallas, November 1963. The JFK collection is just one of many significant photographic groups within the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, the largest photograph archive by far housed in Special Collections. At the time of its initial acquisition in 1985 by The University of Texas at Arlington, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram archive was described by a nationally noted archival appraiser as “the finest such collection on Texas history available.” The collection was transferred to Special Collections in various sections over a period of about 15 years and is now one of the most accessed in UT Arlington’s Library.  The entire collection includes, among other items, almost 200,000 photographic prints, approximately four million photographic negatives, and more than half a million newspaper clippings arranged by subject. This material chronicles the history of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and North Texas with the bulk of the material covering a period from late 1920s up to 1991. Major and minor news stories throughout most of the 20th Century were all documented in photographs and print by the newspaper … including the John F. Kennedy visit to North Texas in November 1963.

Other University of Texas at Arlington collections tapped for “Howdy, Mr. President!” include the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc., Collection, the A. C. Greene Papers, and the Jack D. White John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection. 

Special Collections gratefully acknowledges the technical assistance provided by Gary Mack, Curator of the Sixth Floor Museum.

Curators: Cathy Spitzenberger and Brenda McClurkin
Exhibit Designer: Erin O'Malley
Web Design: Candy McCormic
Web Development: Eli Zoller