The president and the faculty senate of Eastern Kentucky University nominated Caudill for an honorary doctorate degree in 1970. But Eastern's board of regents rejected the recommendation when two members on the board objected to awarding Caudill on grounds that he was too controversial.

Caudill was honored at a "Banquet and Roast" on October 30, 1986 at the University of Kentucky. This was part of the program at the "On the Land and Economy of Appalachia" conference sponsored by the University's Appalachian Center. The occasion was also intended to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the writing of . [Caudill's speech delivered at the banquet is filed with Manuscripts--Lectures and Speeches in Box 75, Folder 36.]

[includes background materials on the development of the project]

Correspondence and clippings concerning Caudill's interest in various possibilities for Appalachian economic development, including power development, appeals for expansion of national forests, and attempts to attract industry to the area.

Files include correspondence and clippings about the Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 which was passed to promote new opportunities in both rural and urban areas suffering from a high unemployment rate; the President's Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC), created by President Kennedy in 1963 to develop a plan of economic and social development for the Appalachian region; and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) formed under President Johnson as a federal-state agency to continue PARC's work.

A corporation on whose board of directors Caudill served. Supported by grants and membership drives, Common Heritage worked to reverse out-migration from eastern Kentucky. This was attempted by supplying lists of skilled migrants willing to return for employment to companies considering the location of plants in eastern Kentucky. The assurance of a skilled labor force was intended to act as an inducement.

On September 17, 1966, Caudill and E.S. Fraley, a farmer from Bristol, Virginia, called a meeting of Appalachian residents interested in developing local resources. A steering committee meeting was held in Charleston, West Virginia, on October 15, 1966, and CAD was officially incorporated on November 25, 1966.

CAD advocated public utility districts (PUDS) modeled after those of Chelan County in Washington state. Kirby Billingsly, manager of the Chelan County PUD, was instrumental in providing information. Publicly owned power plants were to be built near the mouths of coal mines and the power produced would be sold across the eastern U.S. Industry would be attracted to the area and new towns would be formed. [For more on PUDS, see folders in the "Environment" section (Subject Files) on the Northern Plains Resource Council.]

Besides the Caudills, other prominent members of CAD included Senator Paul Kaufman (W.Va.), Gordon Ebersole, who devoted much of his time to CAD after his retirement from the Area Redevelopment Administration (Dept. of the Interior), and Lewis Smith, a Denver engineer, formerly with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

In addition to Caudill's publications, CAD was widely publicized in articles by John Fetterman, William Blizzard, Ben Franklin, and others. However, the large financial backing that was hoped for never materialized, even though appeals were made to foundations, celebrities (e g. Lawrence Welk), and labor unions like the United Mine Workers and the United Auto Workers. [For other related activities, see the folders in this section on Eastern Kentucky Public Power Development and Yankee-Dixie Power Association.]

In August 1978, Caudill spoke to a Charleston, West Virginia, neighborhood meeting about the problems facing Appalachia. He called for the large corporations, especially those involved in coal, gas, and oil extraction, to return some of their wealth to the area for education and economic development. The speech was widely covered in the news media and received tremendous public response. Kentucky's Berea College was the site of several meetings between representatives of the coal industry, including Harry Laviers, Jr., then president of South East Coal Company and the Kentucky Coal Association, J. L. Jackson, president of Falcon Coal, Caudill, various educators, and others interested in a socioeconomic conference on Appalachia.

Caudill was particularly concerned about the large portion of Appalachian land and resources controlled by absentee ownership. George Atkins adopted Caudill's ideas on corporate responsibility in 1978 when he sought the Democratic nomination for governor of Kentucky. [See also the "Taxation" files, Box 31; e.g. if corporations failed to contribute voluntarily, Caudill advocated an increase in severance tax]

On April 29-30, 1988, over two hundred people attended an East Kentucky Leadership Conference held in Hazard, Kentucky, and sponsored by eastern Kentucky's Area Development Districts. Public officials attending included Dr. Grady Stumbo, Hazard mayor Bill Gorman, and Pike County Judge Paul Patton. The opening talk was given by U.S. Rep. Chris Perkins. The conference was organized by the "Knott County group," including former state Rep. Bill Weinberg, state Sen. Benny Ray Bailey, and Mike Mullins, director of the Hindman Settlement School. An Economic Summit was held in July 1989 for representatives of the twenty-two mountain counties; and, on October 8, 1989, approximately seventy-five mayors, county judge executives, legislators, and business leaders from the Economic Summit met in Prestonsburg to organize an East Kentucky Economic Development Commission. The primary purpose of this commission was the creation of jobs for eastern Kentuckians.

In 1990, the General Assembly created the East Kentucky Economic Development and Job Creation Corporation to serve forty-three counties in eastern Kentucky. Percy Elkins was named to coordinate the jobs program. A reception and dinner was held in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1990 for leaders of corporations involved in coal, oil, gas, utilities, railroads, banking, and manufacturing in order to raise $1.2 million to start a regional economic development fund.

The file contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, and memos concerning meetings. Articles by Caudill are included.

Includes clippings, correspondence, and proposals by various groups, such as the Council of the Southern Mountains, relating to possible solutions for housing problems.

Includes correspondence and other information on groups and individuals interested in establishing a power generating plant in eastern Kentucky including Senator John Sherman Cooper (KY), Gordon Ebersole from the Department of the Interior, and the American Public Power Association. Appeals were made to Under Secretary of Commerce, Franklin D. Roosevelt., Jr., by Caudill, Stewart Udall, the Secretary of the Interior, and others for endorsement of the idea by the President's Appalachian Regional Commission(PARC). Roosevelt, however, did not recommend the plan. Caudill retained his interest in development of power plants with his involvement in the Congress for Appalachian Development and the Yankee-Dixie Power Association.

Includes documents about the Mountain Parkway and the Whitesburg by-pass. Caudill thought that improved roads would help stimulate the local economy.

Correspondence with Gene Foley, Assistant Secretary of Commerce regarding the problem of junked cars along eastern Kentucky roadsides.

Formed for the purpose of establishing and developing the cultural, educational, and economic needs of eastern Kentucky, organizers of the foundation included John Hall, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Ashland Oil, Inc.; G.B. Johnson, Chairman of the Board, First American Bank; Robert E. Matthews, President and Chief Operating Officer, Kentucky Power Company; and Dr. Morris Norfleet, President Emeritus, Morehead State University. More than seventy corporate officers were invited to a meeting in Ashland in January 1987 since KAF stressed business rather than political leadership. Each member was asked to pay $1000 in membership fees and serve on one of three task forces: education, quality of life, and economic development. Caudill served on the education task force. The file consists primarily of correspondence between Caudill and other members.

This group, chaired by Scotty Baesler, mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, looked at various alternatives for the future of the Kentucky River as a water source for central Kentucky. Options considered included building "off site" reservoirs in eastern Kentucky, getting water from Louisville, and increasing the height of locks and dams already on the main stem of the Kentucky River. In the summer of 1989, the Steering Committee, the Kentucky River Task Force, and the Citizens Task Force on the Development of the Kentucky River traveled to Hazard to discuss various issues and concerns about the river with eastern Kentucky citizens, community leaders, and elected officials. The file contains Steering Committee correspondence and newspaper clippings about the Kentucky River's future including articles written by Caudill.

Many people, including Caudill, saw the trash-strewn highways, rivers, and creeks as detrimental to attracting industry to the region. The file contains correspondence with Malcolm Holliday, executive director of the Kentucky River Area Development District (KRADD) in 1972. The file documents focus on strict legislation passed by the Letcher County Fiscal Court in 1988. Articles by Caudill are also included.

The primary function was to prepare plans for the orderly growth of the towns of Jenkins and Fleming-Neon and Letcher County in general. Since Whitesburg had its own planning commission, it was not included.

The Coalition held its first membership meeting on October 31, 1969, and formally announced its creation on February 7, 1970. Honorary chairmen were Senators George McGovern and Charles E. Goodell and Congressman John Conyers, Jr. The Coalition's intent was to increase awareness of the sub-standard housing of many rural people and to develop and support legislation for funding low-income housing programs in rural areas.

This proposal for the economic development of Martin, Magoffin, Johnson, and Floyd counties, prepared by Gerald V. Banks, GUB Consulting, Elgin, Illinois, was a long-range plan for creating job facilities connected with the Big Sandy Regional Airport (then under development) as a regional transportation center.

Other suggestions included a recreation complex, a shopping mall, a training center for continuing adult education, a health care center, and an industrial park. The file contains Banks' correspondence with Caudill and the project proposal.

Caudill spoke at this group's first meeting on April 25, 1970, in Berea, Kentucky, and participated in some of their subsequent meetings. Officially incorporated on May 21, 1970, the group's aim was to provide discussions regarding advancements in science and technology for the enrichment of life in Appalachia. For this purpose, the SEA Bulletin began bimonthly publication on July 1, 1971. A volunteer consultant list of scientific and technological specialties was developed from their membership list.

This nonprofit corporation's objective was to stimulate manufacturing and commercial activity in Whitesburg and Letcher County.

Submitted to the Department of Local Government, the Community Development Block Grant Program, and the Farmers Home Administration, this project was an attempt to obtain 93% funding for an improved and expanded public water system for Whitesburg and Letcher County. The Appalachian Regional Commission was asked to fund the remaining amount. The file consists of correspondence between Caudill, Nesbitt Engineering, and other persons and agencies interested in the project.

Caudill was always concerned with eastern Kentucky's economic dependence on the coal industry. He advocated diversification by establishing wood using industries including furniture, floor, and molding factories. Development groups that offered to help support his ideas by providing loans and other assistance included the Kentucky River Area Development District (KRADD) in Hazard and the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development(MACED). The file includes correspondence with R. Percy Elkins, executive director of KRADD, and Troy Eslinger, interim executive director of MACED, and clippings of articles by Caudill and others about wood industries.

The plan of this group was to build mine-mouth steam generating plants in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Alabama in order to form a large public-owned power cooperative for Appalachia. Costs of transporting power would be far less than the cost of transporting coal, the group reasoned, and coal-generated power could supply the entire eastern U.S. Lockheed did some of the original studies but lost interest in participating. R.R. Popham of the New York engineering firm, Laramore, Douglas, and Popham was instrumental in setting up a meeting of munincipal and public power representatives in Washington, D.C., on March 8, 1965. Hugh Spurlock of East Kentucky Rural Electric in Winchester, Kentucky, served as chair. Articles of incorporation were filed in Kentucky on November 15, 1965. Caudill's interest in public power development shifted to the Congress for Appalachian Development. [For related materials, see the files on "Eastern Kentucky Public Power Development" in Box 10.]

Correspondence, clippings, and letters to the editor concerning Caudill's continuing interest in improving the education of Kentuckians.

This organization's purpose was to loan money to college students who intended to live and work in one of forty eastern Kentucky counties after graduation. The group considered the guidelines used by the Rural Kentucky Medical Scholarship Fund, Inc., in developing the conditions for their loans. For every year a loan recipient lived and worked in one of the designated counties, one year of the loan would be forgiven. Jerry F. Howell, Jr., served as executive director. Honorary board members included Caudill and former governor Bert Combs. The file contains minutes of the November 3, 1990, meeting, a loan application stating conditions of the loans, and information on the Rural Kentucky Medical Scholarship Fund, Inc.

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky's entire school system was unconstitutional and ordered the General Assembly to re-create, re-establish, and fund a totally new system. The General Assembly was to assume that property tax was assessed on all property at 100% of its value. The file includes the court decision, including dissenting opinions, correspondence concerning it, and articles by Caudill and others about possible reforms.

In 1984, Caudill was appointed by Governor Martha Layne Collins to review previous educational studies and propose a new course of action. He did not support the council's final recommendation.

Authorized by House Resolution 55, adopted on February 11, 1960, the committee was composed of seven members of the House of Representatives. Harry Caudill was the chair and Marlowe Cook the vice-chair. Hearings were held from February 23-March 9. Recommendations were made in the March 10 final report regarding five areas: supervision of school administration, district organizations, teachers, school finance, and administration of the Minimum Foundation program. The Special Commission on Education was authorized as a result of these recommendations. [For related materials, see "General Assembly" under the heading "Politics" in Box 27.]

Authorized by House Bill 383, nine members were appointed for 2-4 year terms by Governor Bert Combs on June 10, 1960. Interests of the commission were wide-ranging, including teacher certification, training and salary scales, curriculum and extracurricular activities, politics in school systems, and physical facilities. Studies were conducted by Booz, Allen, and Hamilton (on school systems in general, with an emphasis on administration); the Associated Consultants in Education (on foundation programs); and the Curriculum Committee, composed of twelve Kentucky educators--three from public schools and nine from colleges and universities. Recommendations from the commission were modified and incorporated into an omnibus educational bill (probably House Bill 207) in 1962. Caudill's term expired in June 1962. [The Special Commission on Education was preceded by the House Special Committee to Investigate Education. See related materials in Box 14, Folders 3-5.]

Includes correspondence and clippings on environmental topics not included elsewhere in this section. For example: water pollution, floods, overweight coal trucks, reforestation, the U.S. Forest Service, TVA, and garbage disposal. Many of these are strip mining-related issues, too, so see files on "Strip Mining" for other pertinent documents.

Includes correspondence and clippings on acquisition of a natural preserve in Letcher Co. by the Nature Conservancy. The conservancy buys land to save the habitats of endangered species.

Documents successful local opposition to a dam site proposed by the U.S. Army Core of Engineers near Ulvah in Letcher County.

Caudill served on the Board of Supervisors August 31, 1962-December 31, 1964.

Documents the fight, by Caudill and others, to save and preserve a tract of virgin forest on Linefork Creek in Letcher County. Groups such as the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society were involved, as well as Mary and Barry Bingham of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The Caudills worked extensively with this non-profit environmentalist group to prevent the Appalachian environmental disasters from being repeated in the West. Topics covered include strip mining, corporate land ownership, severance and unmined mineral taxes, water pollution, agriculture, and rights of Native Americans.

Documents the fight to save the scenic eastern Kentucky Red River Gorge from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' proposed dam. Opposition was both local and national--from organizing valley residents, to the active involvement of the Sierra Club, to editorials in the New York Times. Caudill participated by using his national media contacts, writing letters to legislators like Senator John Sherman Cooper, guiding people through the Gorge, and publishing an article in Audubon, in the fall of 1968.

Caudill was invited to attend this conference and serve on the "Reclamation of the Landscape" panel. The file includes working papers, the official proceedings from the conference, and correspondence.

Correspondence, clippings, election returns, and campaign literature on a wide range of primarily Kentucky-related political interests. [Broadsides of Kentucky politicians Doug Hays and A. J. May were removed and placed in the Modern Political Papers collection, located in the Division of Special Collections and Archives.]

Speeches by and correspondence from Caudill supporting Atkins, who was defeated by John Y. Brown, Jr., in the Democratic primary.

In October 1987, the ran a series of articles dealing with problems in Kentucky's political process and calling for the Attorney General and the legislative leadership to institute election reform measures. After his election, Fred Cowan formed his Attorney General's Vote Fraud Task Force. The investigative body of the General Assembly, the Legislative Research Commission, formed a Special Commission on Election Reform on December 2, 1987. The Special Commission had three sub-committees: campaign financing, conduct of elections, and enforcement. Caudill served on the sub-committee dealing with conduct of elections until May 12, 1988, when he resigned. The Attorney General's Task Force and the Special Commission met and issued joint recommendations for election reform as well as individual reports. Some of the Special Commission's recommendations were included in SB 268, passed by the General Assembly. However, many of the recommendations were deleted along the way.

The file includes the series of articles, the January 1988 interim report of the Special Commission, the final report of December 1988, and joint recommendations of the Special Commission and Attorney General's Task Force.

Caudill was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1953, 1955, and 1959. In 1959, he was defeated in the Democratic primary, but the winner died before the general election and Caudill was appointed as Democratic candidate. During the 1957-58 period, when he was not a member of the House, he maintained interest in the legislative proceedings. While he filed for office again in 1963, poor health forced him to withdraw. In addition, he served on several important educational committees from 1960-62; related materials are in the "Education" files, Boxes 14-15.

Correspondence and clippings relating to local political figures and issues.

Includes articles, correspondence and clippings that reflect economic conditions in Appalachia. Also includes correspondence between the Caudills and other individuals and organizations that worked toward fighting the War on Poverty and clippings about public reaction to the "poverty problem." In addition, clippings about President Johnson's visit to the region in the spring of 1964 and Senator Robert F. Kennedy's visit to eastern Kentucky on February 13-15, 1968, are included.

Correspondence and clippings about various topics, including black lung and the Scotia mine disaster.

This nonprofit independent corporation was established by Earl Wallace, a native Kentuckian and internationally known oil engineer. After retirement, he returned to Kentucky and solicited donations nationally to restore Shakertown Village near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. In 1977, the Shakertown Roundtable began holding annual forums to educate the public on issues pertinent to Kentucky, such as higher education economic development and the overall state of the Commonwealth. Funding sources included the Mary and Barry Bingham, Sr. Fund and the Kentucky Economic Development Corporation headed by W T. Young. Participants included former governor Bert Combs and historian Thomas Clark.

Caudill attended several roundtables and served on the steering Committee for the 1987 session. The files include correspondence with Earl Wallace, papers presented at meetings, and summaries of various sessions. Most of the material is about the November 8-9, 1987, roundtable, "State of the Commonwealth."

This extension of Southeast Community College was developed by the Whitesburg Education Development Foundation, Inc., on whose board Harry Caudill served. The new college was established in a renovated Coca-Cola bottling plant. The bulk of the one million dollars needed for the renovation came from donations of corporations and individuals in the community. The campus opened for classes in the fall of 1990 with an enrollment of 382 students.

Clippings and correspondence about tax issues in the coalfields: severance tax, unmined mineral tax, and property tax (i.e. unfair assessment of real estate).

Includes contracts, correspondence, and financial materials concerning Caudill's business interest in this company.

When Caudill was a student at the University of Kentucky in 1945, he and two other student-veterans, L. L. Booth and Robert B. Eastburn, circulated a petition objecting to the actions of the University's trustees regarding Alex Leonard Wenner-Gren. In 1940, Swedish industrialist Wenner-Gren had presented a gift of $155,600 to the University to equip an aeronautical laboratory. Except for two rooms, Wenner-Gren's Mawen Motor Company had exclusive use of the laboratory. In 1942, the U S. Government blacklisted Wenner-Gren for selling aircraft to Nazi Germany. University trustees tried to have Wenner-Gren's name removed from the blacklist and placed his name on a campus building. The file contains petitions and newspaper clippings.

Jane and Huston Westover were long-time friends of the Caudills. [Anne Caudill added these files after the organization of this collection was nearly completed; thus, these letters were not integrated into the "General" correspondence above.]

The Caudills organized correspondence regarding specific articles as below. These are arranged chronologically by publishing date. Correspondence about all other articles is in the "General" section following this one, beginning at Box 60.

These boxes contain letters from publishers to solicit articles and book reviews or from fellow authors to invite collaboration on books; requests for permission to reprint in full or part, or to include in anthologies and encyclopedias, previously published articles or speeches by Caudill; and Caudill's reactions to articles and those about him from individuals and organizations. Also included are correspondence with publishers, magazine and newspaper editors, journalists, and other writers about writing. Materials relating to book fairs and cover letters accompanying articles submitted to journals for publication are located here as well.

These folders contain correspondence regarding two magazine articles about Caudill.

[in alphabetical order]

David H. Vowell of the Genesis Concern obtained movie rights and wrote a 127-page script: "The Saga of Jennie Wiley." However, the actual production never materialized. This folder contains the script and correspondence concerning the film proposal.

Over the years, several parties were interested in making this book into a documentary film. David H. Vowell of the Genesis Concern obtained movie rights, but the film was never made. This folder contains correspondence concerning the various proposals.