A tiny bit of history

[Jack White]

The year was 1975. I had recently met Mary Ferrell.
She had introduced me into her "inner circle" of local
JFK "Warren Report CRITICS". Her circle included
Penn Jones, J.Gary Shaw, and Larry Ray Harris. They
met frequently in her cluttered old living room in near
north Dallas on Holland street (avenue?). Thereafter
I was invited to their meetings of local BUFFS when
there was something to discuss or an important visitor
was in town.

One evening (remember, this was 12 years after the
assassination) I told the group that I was disturbed by
their use of the terms CRITICS (Mary's preference) and
BUFFS (Penn's preference). In her soft southern voice,
Mary asked..."Well what would you suggest?"

I said..."Mary, both those terms are negative, designed
to put us on the defensive. I spend all my time RESEARCHING,
so I would use the term RESEARCHERS.

Mary said, "You are right. From now on we should all call
ourselves RESEARCHERS!"

And they did.

And now everyone else does too.

A modest suggestion, but I believe the cumulative effect
has been positive.

Jack

Researchers and historians. That's what I see here.

Now, maybe. But in 1975 we were all researchers. Mary and Gary
researched documents. Penn did interviews. I researched photos.
We were not doing history. We were only doing research.

Jack