Arrangement of the collection is by series:

Series 1: Personal / Biographical

Series 2: Pulitzer Prize Materials

Series 3: Published Writings

Series 4: Research Subject Files

Series 5: Stinking Creek

Series 6: Photographs

Fetterman was a prolific writer on a wide variety of subjects that ranged from the whimsical to the tragic. He is probably best remembered for his stories about the impact on eastern Kentucky of strip mining, the War on Poverty, and Vietnam. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his article, "PFC Gibson Comes Home," which dealt with the death of a young Knott County, Kentucky soldier in Vietnam and its impact on his family and community. Earlier, he had contributed to a Courier-Journal series on strip mining, which won a Pulitzer in 1967. Additional writings on Appalachian related topics include “The People of Cumberland Gap” for National Geographic (11-71) and his book, Stinking Creek (1967) that portrayed life in the Stinking Creek area of Knox County, Kentucky. The core of his writing success has been described as a penchant for simplifying the complex and capturing moods. Speaking of his approach to reporting, he once said “all I try to do is find out how ordinary people are touched by things going on around them and then tell the truth about it.”

Fetterman, John.

Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.).
Fetterman, John -- Archival rsources
Journalists -- United States -- Biography.
Kentucky -- Economic conditions.
Kentucky -- Social conditions.
Newspapers -- History.
Reporters and reporting--United States.