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Appalachian Oral History Project Finding Aid

This guide serves as a finding aid for the Appalachian Oral History Project's oral history interviews conducted by Lees College students.
Note: Relatives of interview participants where a signed copyright release is unavailable should contact Cathy Branson or Evelyn Hudson directly for more information about copyright status of the interview. Immediate family or living interviewers/interviewees may sign a copyright release statement to make previously unavailable content accessible to the public. 

Collection Title: Appalachian Oral History Project

Dates: 1972-1984

Language: Collection materials are in English.

Repository: Archives, Lees College Campus Library, Hazard Community and Technical College

                     Find digitized interviews and stream online: Kentucky Digital Library 

Permission to Publish: Both the audio and transcript of the interviews are owned by the Lees College Campus Library at Hazard Community and Technical College and may not be reproduced or distributed without consent.

Preferred Citation: If citing this material please give credit to the Appalachian Oral History Project at the Lees College Campus: Hazard Community and Technical College.

Citation Format:

[Interviewee Last Name, First Name]. “Interview [#].” Appalachian Oral History Project. By [Name of Interviewer]. [Date of Interview]. [Medium (Digital Audio or Cassette)]. Lees College Campus: Hazard Community and Technical College. [Day, Month, Year of Access]. <URL if applicable>

Citation Example:

Sewell, Price. “Interview #0055.” Appalachian Oral History Project. By Gayle Deaton. 1971-06-20. Digital Audio. Lees College Campus: Hazard Community and Technical College. 16 April 2018.

A portion of the Appalachian Oral History Project Collection has been digitized thanks to grants from the Kentucky Oral History Commission and the Kentucky Historical Society. For more information about the Kentucky Historical Society please visit history.ky.gov or click their logo below:

Kentucky Historical Society logo, white cursive inspired text against a deep green background.

For more information, assistance, or to request a copy of the audio/transcript files please contact:
Cathy Branson, Director of Library Services Evelyn Hudson, Reference Librarian
Phone: 606-487-3550 Phone: 606-487-3147
Email: cathy.branson@kctcs.edu Email: ehudson0018@kctcs.edu

The Appalachian Oral History Project was a project undertaken by four Appalachian institutions of higher learning in the 1960s-1980s:

  • Appalachian State University
  • Alice Lloyd College
  • Emory & Henry College
  • Lees Junior College (now a part of Hazard Community & Technical College and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System)

The project sought out stories from Appalachians who lived during the Great Depression and includes many stories from major historical events like World War I & II, presidential elections, the New Deal, as well as experiences living in coal camps, working in pre-unionized coal mines, and life in the mountains before modern conveniences.