Tennessee Valley Authority Oral History

Tape 1 consists of an Omni Special Edition interview by host Terry Hickson with Mark Winter, TVA records officer and historian, TVA Central District, Chattanooga, Tennessee. The interview was made in conjunction with a travelling exhibit on the TVA which at the time was being displayed at the B. Carroll Reece Museum, ETSU. Winter discussed various topics, among them the history of the TVA in Tennessee, sources of documents for the exhibit, what types of documents TVA saves and the preservation of records in an archives. (Recorded January 30, 1984) Tape 2, "The Making of the Electric Valley", consists of an Omni Special Edition interview of Ross Spears by host Terry Hickson. Spears is a Johnson City, Tennessee film maker whose interest in the TVA was rekindled by the 1977-78 Tellico Dam controversy. Consequently, Spears decided to make a film about the history of the TVA. Spears and his crew shot footage for the film in 1981 and 1982. The National Endowment for the Humanities funded the project. (Recorded January 23, 1984)

Both tapes were made in conjunction with programs which celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was established by the Tennessee Valley Act passed by Congress on May 18, 1933. The act set up the TVA as an independent public corporation with a board of three directors. Under the auspices of the TVA, dams were built in the Tennessee Valley and inexpensive electric power was delivered to thousands of rural communities which previously had no electricity. The TVA also oversaw various other projects, among them the production of nitrous fertilizers.