The What the Camera Saw Collection: Photographs by Jim Cochran contains over 6,000 items such as professional and personal photographs, negatives, and related memorabilia of Jim Cochran, a Wichita Falls native, MSU graduate, and chief photographer for the Wichita Falls Times (now the Times Record News). An award-winning photographer, Cochran was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for his photograph of a tornado approaching the Wichita Falls courthouse. In 1959, Cochran was invited by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson to be his personal photographer at a party the senator was hosting. Cochran went on to photograph numerous politicians throughout the 1960s, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy. Jim and Katricia Cochran donated the collection to Moffett Library in 1999, driven by Jim’s connections to Wichita Falls and MSU. Spanning approximately 30 years, the historic photos give a unique glimpse into the people, culture, politics, and notable events that helped shape Wichita Falls. Over half of Cochran’s photographs are digitally available on the University of North Texas’s Portal to Texas History.
