Accession Number: 72
John W. Hevener Papers
1971-1993
8 Linear Feet
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview
History
Series I - Which Side Are You On?
Series II - Elk River Coal and Lumber Company
Series III - Appalachians in Akron

Access and Use

Provenance: John W. Hevener’s papers were placed in Berea College’s Southern Appalachian Archives by Mary Hevener in July 1993.

Preferred citation: John W. Hevener Papers, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, Ky.

This series consistsm of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, note cards, interview transcripts, and photographs relating to Hevener’s research, writing, and 1978 publication by University of Illinois Press of Which Side Are You On? The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39.

Box 1

1. Final Manuscript; pgs 1-63
2. Final manuscript; pgs 64-110
3. Final manuscript; pgs 111-143
4. Final manuscript; pgs 144-204
5. Final manuscript; pgs 205-245
6. Final manuscript; pgs 246-297
7. Index manuscript; cover-37
8. Index manuscript; pgs 38-87
9. Index manuscript; pgs 88-145
10. Index manuscript; pgs 146-197
11. Index
12. Outline
13. Preface drafts
14. Acknowledgement drafts
15. Miscellaneous
16. Photocopy 1 of Hevener’s final manuscript
17. Photocopy 2 of Hevener’s final manuscript

Box 2

1. Book Related Correspondence
2. Government Publications Photocopies
3. Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor: United States Senate; Part 11
4. Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor: United States Senate; Part 12
5. Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor: United States Senate; Part 13
6. A Baseline Assessment of Coal Industry Structure in the Ohio River Basin Energy Study Region - Phase II
7. Newspaper microfilm photocopies
8. Journal articles photocopies
9. Journal articles photocopies
10. Newspaper articles

Box 3

1. Journal Articles
2. Journal Articles
3. United Mine Workers Journal - 1930s (Photocopies)
4. “Harlan County” - words to song from commercial recording by Wayne Kemp
5. Interview Notes (George Titler and others)
6. Miscellaneous written and typed notes
7. Photographs 1
8. Photographs 2
9. Photographs 3
10. Photographs 4
11. Robert Gumpert published photo collection: Harlan County, Kentucky
12. Miscellaneous 35mm slides (Chambers, Testerian, and Hatfield Gravestones)

Box 4

1. Note cards: A-Z

Box 5

1. Note cards: chapters 3, 4, & 7, and unused

Box 6

1. Note cards Re: Black Damp! - The Harlan County Miner in the New Deal Decade

Box 7

1. Note cards: “to be used to prove conspiracy and sectionalism”

This series consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, note cards, interview transcripts, audio tapes, and photographs resulting from Hevener’s research relating to Widen, (Clay County) West Virginia’s Elk River Coal and Lumber Company and its long time manager, John G. Bradley. Hevener’s unpublished writings focus particularly on Bradley’s personality and management tactics, his opposition to the UMWA, and the at times, violent strike activity that occurred several times throughout the company’s history. Included are four chapter manuscripts and a completed 30-page manuscript with bibliography entitled, Labor Relations at Elk River Coal and Lumber Company, Widen, West Virginia 1912-1963.

Box 8

1. Photographs: Widen
2. Company Town - Widen film project
3. Correspondence 1979-1981
4. Interview transcripts
5. Audio Cassette Interviews - Charles Duffield by Norman Munsey, August 1980 / Doyle Waggoner by Norman Munsey n.d.
6. Audio Cassette Interviews - Lewis Woofter August 22, 1980 / Otis Gill by norman Munsey August, 19, 1980
7. Audio Cassette Interviews - Doyle Waggoner by Norman Munsey n.d. / Lewis Woofter n.d. / Charles Ray by Norman Munsey August 20, 1980

Box 9

1. Revolt Against Paternalism: Labor Relations at ERC&LC, Widen, WV 1933-1963 (24 page typescript)
2. Labor Relations 1912-1963 (drafts)
3. Operator Manipulation of Public Opinion During the Widen Coal Strike of 1952-1953 (typescript)
4. An Infernal Triangle (typescript)
5. Book Outline
6. Chapter 1
7. Chapter 2
8. Chapter 3
9. Chapter 4
10. Possible rough draft of book manuscript (unnumbered pages)
11. Miscellaneous notes / possible chapters
12. [Chapter Draft] (pages 16-19 typescript)
13. Widen Inventory 1926-1957 (buildings, machinery, store sales, etc.)
14. Miscellaneous Widen Data - (union members, coal production, etc.)
15. Miscellaneous notes

Box 10

1. Bradley Family Biographical
2. J.G. Bradley Papers Inventory
3. Bradley papers unlabeled (photocopies)
4. Bradley papers unlabeled (photocopies)
5. Bradley papers unlabeled (photocopies)
6. Bradley papers unlabeled (photocopies)
7. Bradley papers 1928-1959 (photocopies)
8. Bradley papers 1937-1951 (photocopies)
9. Bradley papers 1952 (photocopies)
10. Bradley papers 1953 (photocopies)
11. Bradley papers 1954 (photocopies)
12. Bradley papers 1955 (photocopies)
13. Articles authored by Bradley (photocopies)

Box 11

1. ERC&LCo financial statements 1937-1946
2. ERC&LCo financial statements 1926-1936
3. ERC&LCo Financial statements 1950-1951
4. ERC&LCo Financial statements 1947-1956
5. ERC&LCo ERC&Lco Inneroffice Memorandums)
6. Widen employees list 1/23/46
7. Employees in military service list
8. Contract - Employees’ League of Widen Miners and Elk River Coal and Lumber Company 1944 & 1957
9. Stockholders of Elk River Coal and Lumber Company
10. Elk River Coal and Lumber Company vs. UMWA (law suit)
11. Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad Company (newspaper clippings)

Box 12

1. National Recovery Administration Findings, 1933 Re: Widen Contract
2. West Virginia Legislature’s Widen Strike Committee Report, pp 1436-1519
3. West Virginia Legislature’s Widen Strike Committee Report, pp 1520-1617
4. West Virginia law codes
5. West Virginia Attorney General’s Report - fiscal years July 1952-June 1954
6. The Clay Messenger 1952
7. The New York Times 1920s / 1950s
8. The Widen News 1930s / 1950s
9. The Widen News 1920s / 1950s
10. Labor's Daily 1952
11. United Mine Worker’s Journal 1930s-1940s
12. Miscellaneous articles

Box 13

1. Hickory and Lady Slippers; Vol. I, Life and Legend of Clay County People; Vol. II, Tales of the Elk
2. Hickory and Lady Slippers; Vol. III, The Clay County Clan Book 1-A-B
3. Widen phone book, September 1979
4. Goldenseal Jan-Mar 1977
5. Disaster on Buffalo Creek Citizens Investigation Commission Report
6. A Medical Survey of the Bituminous-Coal Industry; Report of the coal mines administration department of the Interior, Washington, 1947
7. Wheelwright, Kentucky: Community in Transition - Stephen Clark King 1982
8. Notecards

Box 14

1. Chapter 1: History of Elk River
2. Unionism 1912
3. Employees killed and injured
4. League & Welfare fund; 1934-1961
5. Unionism on BCJGRR; 1942
6. Last Chapter notes for Ch. 3; Widen after 1958 sale
7. Strike 1941
8. Hinshelwood’s death - 1940
9. Union organizing; 1937-1939
10. Hopkins, George William
11. Used in Ch. 1
12. All interviews
13. Bradley on management
14. Bradley’s politics
15. Bradley’s family
16. Trial stuff to sort through; 1952-1953
17. Unionism; 1947-1949
18. Notecards

Box 15

1. NLRB Elections; 1943-1946
2. Strike of 1934
3. Formation of Widen 1933
4. 1952-1953 strike
5. 1952-1953 strike
6. Chapter 3
7. Not used
8. Pittston - Elk River 1958-1963
9. Union Organizing 1933-1939
10. Miscellaneous

This series consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and note cards resulting from Hevener’s research relating to the social and cultural impact of Appalachian migrants on Akron, Ohio. A resultant unpublished paper, “Appalachians In Akron 1914-1945: The Transfer of Southern Folk Culture,” focuses particularly on the migrant flow to Akron from the northwestern portion of West Virginia. Subject areas include the relationship of Appalachian in-migration to an increased homicide rate, Ku Klux Klan activity, union organization efforts, numbers of new church congregations, and a substantial increase in the popularity of country and gospel music.

Box 16

1. Appalachians in Akron, 1914-1945: The Transfer of Southern Folk Culture -final draft
2. Appalachians in Akron, 1914-1945: The Transfer of Southern Folk Culture -rough drafts
3. Correspondence
4. Summit County Homicides 1914-1939
5. 1936 Rubber workers strike (URWA) - research
6. Articles
7. Notecards

Box 17

1. Akron Klansmen
2. KKK 1921-1939
3. Murder
4. To be used in paper
5. Country music in Akron 1930-1939
6. Southern Society
7. West Virginia Society
8. Not Classified
9. Not Classified

Box 18

1. Not Classified

Box 19

1. Not Classified

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