Mary Elizabeth McHughes Ferrell (26 October 1922 – 20 February 2004) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and independent researcher who created a large database on the

John F. Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle wi ...

Life and career

Born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, she married Hubert Afton "Buck" Ferrell in 1940 and had four children. In 1957 the family moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, where Ferrell found work as a legal secretary. She began collecting materials on the Kennedy assassination immediately after the event.Cochran, Mike (22 October 2000). Research on JFK consumes the life of Dallas woman. ''

Fort Worth Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Carter ...

'' Her assassination database was originally written on over 40,000 cards and included details of over 8,200 people involved in the case. These data were eventually entered into a computer. Ferrell also created a four-volume set of chronologies, covering all aspects of the assassination.McCarthy, Jerry
Biography of Mary Ferrell
NameBase NewsLine, No. 4, January–March 1994. Ferrell died in Dallas.Death notice (February 20, 2004). JFK Assassination Expert Dies, Mary Elizabeth McHughes Ferrell. '' Dallas Morning News''

Foundation

The Mary Ferrell Foundation, located in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a non-profit. Topics include the 1960s assassinations, the Watergate scandal, and post-Watergate intelligence abuse.

References

External links

Mary Ferrell biography
via Mary Ferrell Foundation *
Photo of Mary FerrellMary Ferrell web site
1922 births 2004 deaths Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy 20th-century American historians American women historians 20th-century American women writers {{US-historian-stub