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Collection Overview
Title: John Fetterman Papers, 1940-1973
Primary Creator: Fetterman, John.
Extent: 30.0 MS boxes
Arrangement:
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
Subjects: 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.
Languages: English
Abstract
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.”
Scope and Contents of the Materials
These are correspondence, research materials, writings, and photographs of Courier Journal-Louisville Times reporter and editor, John Fetterman (1920-1975). Fetterman, a Danville, Kentucky native, served three and half years in the U.S. Navy and then attended Murray State University under the G.I. bill, graduating in 1948. He worked for the Murray Ledger and Times and the Nashville Tennessean. He also tried his hand at high school teaching and did post-graduate work at the University of Kentucky before coming to the Louisville papers in 1957 as a staff writer and photographer. During his Louisville years, he also did free lance writing for such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post, Time, Life, and National Geographic.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Berea College Special Collections and Archives Catalog
Access Restrictions:
Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College.
Use Restrictions:
Some items are restricted including several photographs made by Kentucky hospitals and police departments, a series of 17 medical x-ray films, and excerpts from medical and police records that include the names and locales of child abuse victims and their alleged attackers.
Note on Copyright: The Louisville Courier-Journal holds the copyright to photographs used by Fetterman to illustrate articles produced for the newspaper. Researchers must be granted permission from the Courier-Journal before photographs can be duplicated for publication or other use.
Copyright regulations apply to all materials. Please cite.
Preferred Citation:
[Object identification], John Fetterman Collection, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, KY.
Finding Aid Revision History:
The finding aid was updated in January 2016 to reflect the addition in Series 5 (Box 15) of the following materials:
Folio: Manuscript, Stinking Creek
Folio: Stinking Creek Photographs
Other Note:
BCA 0027 SAA 026
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal / Biographical],
[
Series 2: Pulitzer Prize Material],
[
Series 3: Published Writings],
[
Series 4: Article Research Subject Files],
[Series 5:
Stinking Creek],
[
Series 6: Photographs],
[
All]
- Series 5: Stinking Creek
- This series consists of notes, correspondence, and working manuscript, manuscript, and photographic prints related to the writing and publication in 1967 of his book, Stinking Creek. Fetterman spent many weekends and days off getting to know the families he wrote about and kept up contacts with them years later.
- Box 14
- Folder 1: Tentative Outline, Miscellaneous Papers, 1966-67
- Folder 2: Working Manuscript: Prologue and Chapter I,, 1966-67
- Folder 3: Working Manuscript: Chapter II, "How they Got There,", 1966-67
- Folder 4: Working Manuscript: Chapter III, "Land of Coal and Old Men,", 1966-67
- Folder 5: Working Manuscript: Chapter IV, "There Will Be a Reward,", 1966-67
- Folder 6: Notes: Chapter IV, "There will be a Reward,", 1966-67
- Folder 7: Working Manuscript: Chapter V, "Brown's Hollow,", 1966-67
- Folder 8: Working Manuscript: Chapter VI, "Shall We Gather,", 1966-67
- Folder 9: Working Manuscript: Chapter VII, "Shady School,", 1966-67
- Folder 10: Working Manuscript: Chapter VIII, "The Young People,", 1966-67
- Folder 11: Working Manuscript: Chapter IX, "The Young Couples,", 1966-67
- Folder 12: Working Manuscript: Chapter X, "Exodus", 1966-67
- Folder 13: Working Manuscript: Chapter XI, "The Do Gooders"
- Folder 14: Working Manuscript: Chapter XII, "Easter Sunday"
- Box 15
- Folder 1: Folio: Manuscript, Stinking Creek
- Folder 2: Folio: Stinking Creek Photographs
- Folder 3: Notebooks, 1966-67
- Folder 4: Notebooks, 1966-67
- Folder 5: Notes: Chapter III, "Land of Coal and Old Men", 1966-67
- Folder 6: Notes: Chapter V, "Brown's Hollow", 1966-67
- Box 16
- Folder 1: Notes: Chapter VI, "Shall we Gather at the River", 1966-67
- Folder 2: Notes: Chapter VII, "Shady School", 1966-67
- Folder 3: Notes: Chapter VIII, "The Young People,", 1966-67
- Folder 4: Notes: Chapter IX, "The Young Couples,", 1966-67
- Folder 5: Notes: Chapter XI, "The Do-gooders,", 1966-67
- Folder 6: Notes: Chapter XII, "Easter Sunday,", 1966-67
- Folder 7: Notes: Epilogue, "Sometimes in the Night,", 1966-67
- Folder 8: Research Materials: Chapter III, "The Land of Coal and Old Men,", 1966-67
- Folder 9: Research Materials: Chapter III, "Land of Coal and Old Men II,", 1966-67
- Folder 10: Research Materials: Chapter X, "Exodus,", 1966-67
- Folder 11: Research Materials: Chapter XI, "The Do-gooders,", 1966-67
- Folder 12: Research Materials: Epilogue, "Sometimes in the Night", 1966-67
- Folder 13: Miscellaneous Articles, 1966-67
- Folder 14: Correspondence, April 1966-June 1967
- Folder 15: Correspondence, November 1964-February 1965
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal / Biographical],
[
Series 2: Pulitzer Prize Material],
[
Series 3: Published Writings],
[
Series 4: Article Research Subject Files],
[Series 5:
Stinking Creek],
[
Series 6: Photographs],
[
All]
