What do you know about the Municipal Archives? I bet it’s not much, so let’s change that.
Our city archives are located at Dallas City Hall. They include every imaginable departmental record in a variety of forms and formats, including ledgers, manuscripts and typescripts, maps, photographs, microforms, and printed materials. It’s a gold mine of information for journalists, historians, researchers, and residents. That’s right. Anyone can access the records by appointment.
Among our many collections are the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow Gang materials of the Dallas Police Department, the John F. Kennedy/Dallas Police Department records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy, the earliest extant City of Dallas Charter, and over a quarter-million images documenting the growth and public services of the City of Dallas.
Dallas Municipal Archives website
The Dallas Municipal Archives have teamed up with Old City Park and the Friends of the Dallas Municipal Archives to offer a free public lecture series this summer that will tap into this incredible fount of information.
The first lecture was held last Thursday on the history of the Cedars area. City Archivist John Slate was the speaker and revealed details most people would never know.
“In the 1920s, the Shearith Israel synagogue was across from the park for many years on Pocahontas Street, which is now gone, “ Slate said. “When they outgrew the building and moved to North Dallas in the 1950s, the building became the first headquarters of the Jewish Community Center. It was finally demolished in the 1960s.”
Slate has been the City Archivist for 23 years. When a board member of Old City Park approached him with an idea for a series held at Browder Springs Hall in the park, Slate was immediately on board and ran through his mental directory of great speakers landing on Thomas H. Smith, Ph.D. and Vicki Meek, general manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center and a current commissioner on the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission.
Smith will be talking about railroads. His lecture “How the Whistles Came to Dallas” is slated for July, and Meek will address the Dallas Office of Arts and Culture public art program.
“That topic ties into the archives because we are the caretakers of the artist files from the public collection,” Slate said. “Vicki has an unparalleled knowledge of public art and is also a practicing artist. She has seen both sides of the coin and has a good working knowledge of getting public art produced.”
Old City Park is a perfect location for these events because it is our first and oldest park, with a collection of historic buildings dating to 1840.
Mark your calendars for the second Thursday of July and August and learn something new about your city! Look for the lion on the side of the building and you’re there!
Tickets: Admission and parking are FREE.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
