Herndon J. Evans Collection
82M1
University of Kentucky Special Collections
3.5 Cubic feet
1929-1982
Herndon J. Evans, editor of the Pineville Sun in Bell County, Kentucky, closely followed labor unrest in the Kentucky coalfields, especially in Harlan and Bell Counties, during the early 1930s. The collection contains handbills, leaflets, pamphlets and newspaper clippings collected by Evans primarily from 1931-1933. Also included are handwritten notes, correspondence, and drafts of articles and editorials written by Evans as well as memorabilia such as Communist Party membership books and organizational charts.
Evans, Herndon J., 1895-1976
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The collection was donated to the University of Kentucky by Mary Elizabeth Evans, Hendon Evans' wife, in 1977.
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use note
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky.
Preferred Citation note
[Identification of item], Herndon J. Evans Collection, 1929-1982, 82M1, Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington
Biographical/Historical note
Herndon J. Evans (1895-1976), a resident of Bell County, Kentucky, was editor of the Pineville Sun and local correspondent for the Associated Press (AP) in the early 1930s, a period of labor unrest in the Kentucky coalfields, especially in Harlan and Bell Counties.
Evans closely followed events in the Pineville area, paying attention to the strikes and attempts by the United Mine Workers of America and the Communist Party's National Miners Union to organize the miners. He was particularly concerned with two delegations composed mainly of writers, including Sherwood Anderson, John Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, Waldo Frank and Mary Heaton Vorse, who travelled to eastern Kentucky to investigate the conditions of miners and their families and who eventually published their findings in
Harlan Miners Speak: Report on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields (Harcourt, Brace, 1932). Evans was also keenly interested in the various groups of college students who came to support the miners. Opposed to the activities of these delegations, Evans worked to undermine their presence and credibility by using his journalistic skills to write editorials for the Pineville Sun and articles for the AP.
Scope and Contents note
The collection contains handbills, leaflets, pamphlets and newspaper clippings collected by Evans primarily from 1931-1933. Also included are handwritten notes, correspondence, and drafts of articles and editorials written by Evans as well as memorabilia such as Communist Party membership books and organizational charts.
Related Archival Materials note
Harlan Miners Speak: Report on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields, prepared by members of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (Harcourt, Brace, 1932).
Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970
Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945
Frank, Waldo David, 1889-1967
Pineville Sun. (Pineville, Ky.)
United Mine Workers of America.
Vorse, Mary Heaton, 1874-1966
Bell County (Ky.)--History
Coal miners--Kentucky
Coal mines and mining--Economic conditions.
Communism--Kentucky.
Editors--Kentucky.
Harlan County (Ky.)--History
Knox County (Ky.)--History.
Pamphlets.
Pineville (Ky.)--History.
Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky.
Biographical Materials
Series I.
Scope and Contents note
Contains Family Affairs written by Mary Elizabeth Evans, Herndon's wife, as well as clippings pertaining to Evans himself. See also Box 2, Folder 23.
Miscellaneous materials
1
1
Correspondence
Series II.
Scope and Contents note
Correspondence to Herndon Evans from supporters and those who disagree with his ideology and position on the labor strife in Harlan and Bell Counties. Also includes carbon copies of correspondence from Herndon Evans.
November 1931
1
2
December 1931
1
3
January 1932
1
4
February 1932
1
5
March 1-18, 1932
1
6
March 19-31, 1932
1
7
April 1932
1
8
May 1932
1
9
July 1932
1
10
undated
1
11
Miscellaneous [not strike-related]
1
12
Handwritten Notes
Series III.
Handwritten notes
2
1
Handbills and Leaflets about the Strike
Series IV.
Scope and Contents note
Handbills calling for mass meetings and marches
December 13, 1931-June 12, 1932; undated
2
2
Herndon Evans' News Stories
Series V.
undated
2
3
Editorials and Letters to the Editor
Series VI.
February 1932; undated
2
4
Press Releases
Series VII.
November, 1931-May 1932; undated
2
5
Publications
Series VIII.
Scope and Contents note
Publications about the strike and related topics such as ideological positions on communism
Books and Pamphlets about the Strikes
Subseries A.
Document laid in book
Harlan Miners Speak: Report on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields, 1932).]
2
6
Pamphlets about the Strike
2
7
Periodical Articles
Subseries B.
Scope and Contents note
These articles are primarily related to the strikes in Bell and Harlan Counties. However, a few articles are about communism in general.
"Theodore Dreiser (An American Tragedy),"
Time, November 23, 1931.
2
8
"Why Blood Flows in Harlan,"
The Literary Digest, December 5, 1931.
2
9
"Red Blood in Kentucky," Charles Walker,
Forum and Century, January 1932.
2
10
"Starvation and the Reds in Kentucky," Oakley Johnson,
The Nation, February 3, 1932.
2
11
"Marx Inverted," Book Review,
The New Republic, February 24, 1932.
2
12
"Kentucky Newspaperman Denies Distorting Story on Writers,"
Editor and Publisher, February 27, 1932.
2
13
"In Pineville,"
Time, February 29, 1932.
2
14
"Kentucky Man is Off AP String List,"
Editor and Publisher, March 5, 1932.
2
15
"Kentucky Coal Town," Malcolm Cowley,
The New Republic, March 2, 1932.
2
16
"Theodore Dreiser," Edmund Wilson,
The New Republic, March 30, 1932.
2
17
"Who Knows What's Happening in Kentucky?"
The Christian Century, A Journal of Religion, March 1932.
2
18
The Epworth Highroad, March 1932
2
19
Scope and Contents note
[It is not clear why Herndon Evans may have saved this magazine.]
"Kentucky Hits Communism : The Truth about the Coal Mine Situation in South Eastern Kentucky and the Dreiser-Frank "Ballyhoo," Herndon Evans,
Kentucky Progress Magazine, April 1932.
2
20
"Kentucky Editors Look at Kentucky: A Series of Letters on Harlan and Bell Counties,"
The Nation, May 18, 1932.
2
21
"Communist Forcing Showdown? : Why Reds Stir World Wide Violence,"
US News and World Report, May 23, 1958.
2
22
"Herndon J Evans and the Harlan County Coal Strike," Phillip D. Supina,
The Filson Club History Quarterly, July 1982.
2
23
Scope and Contents note
Contains biographical information about Herndon Evans.
Clippings about the Strikes
Subseries C.
Scope and Contents note
Clippings from newspapers around the country about the strikes in Bell and Harlan Counties
March-December, 1931
3
1
Scope and Contents note
Contains articles pertaining to Theodore Dreiser and his committee of U.S senators and private citizens who came to Kentucky to investigate conditions in the Kentucky coalfields
January-February, 1932
3
2
Scope and Contents note
Several articles in this folder are related to the abduction and abuse of two journalists, Allen Taub and Waldo Frank
March 1932
3
3
Scope and Contents note
Among other strike-related topics, this folder contains articles about the National Student League and their arrival in Bell and Harlan Counties
April 1932 and May 1932
3
4
Scope and Contents note
Articles in this folder continue to cover student support of the strike, including the arrival of students from Arkansas' Commonwealth College who were physically assaulted for their involvement
1931 [month and day unknown]
4
1
1932 [month and day unknown]
4
2
Clippings Unrelated to the Strikes
Subseries D.
1929-1967
4
3
Scope and Contents note
Many of these clippings are about communism and constitutional rights in the United States.
Herndon Evans' Scrapbook
Series IX.
Scope and Contents note
Photocopied version for patron use. Original is in fragile condition and is located in Box 6.
Scrapbook pages: November 1931- May 1932, p. 1-68
5
1
Scrapbook pages: Handwritten notes and speeches, p. 69-77
5
2
Undated, p. 78-88
5
3
Memorabilia
Series X.
Memorabilia
5
4
Scope and Contents note
Includes Communist Party membership booklets, Pineville "transportation cards," membership cards for the "Society for the Protection of Defenseless Children," and patriotic memorabilia.
Also, located in Box 7, are blueprints: Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Cumberland Valley Division chart of total monthly [coal] loadings, January 1927 to date [February 12 1932]; Bolshevist Organization in the United States of America, At Present Time, 1931 [organizational chart].
Related Materials
Series XI.
Scope and Contents note
Materials not pertaining to the strike.
Anti-communist materials
5
5
Scope and Contents note
Includes publications on the dangers of communism in public schools and the effects of communist propaganda. Booklets from the Committee on Un-American Activities are also included.
Communist Party booklets and pamphlets
5
6
Scope and Contents note
Includes a picture book about unemployment by Phil Bard and published by the Young Communist League, and a pamphlet entitled War against Workers' Russia, by Earl Browder
Miscellaneous Pamphlets
5
7
Scope and Contents note
Contains an American Red Cross Handbook and a brochure of Pineville Kentucky
Oversize Materials
Series XII.
Herndon Evans Scrapbook
6
Blueprints: Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Cumberland Valley Division chart of total monthly [coal] loadings, January 1927 to date [February 12 1932]; Bolshevist Organization in the United States of America, At Present Time, 1931 [organizational chart].
7