Appalachian Regional Commission Oral History Project

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), established in 1965 by Congress, is made up of the governors of the thirteen Appalachian states and two cochairs and provides economic and social services to the region. These interviews document the founding and operations of the ARC. Interviewees include past ARC staff members, state and local officials, federal and congressional representatives, and concerned citizens in Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. Topics include road building, congressional debates, regionalism, the coal industry, unemployment, infant mortality, the different attitudes of Republican and Democratic administrations toward the ARC, transportation, health care, housing, tourism, sewer and water projects, brick-and-mortar versus human services projects, airports, out-migration, the National Science Foundation, state officials, the Kentucky Infant Pre-school Project, Knott and Owsley counties, and the War on Poverty. The original tapes are at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.