Collection Title: Edward T. Breathitt Papers
Series Number: MS10-17
Processed and Cataloged by: No information on original processing recorded.
Date Listed: April 23, 2010
Date Span: 1961-1989
Size of Collection: 53.0 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 93 legal size document cases and 5 oversized boxes.
Type of Material: Correspondence, legislative bills, newspaper clippings, government reports, photographs, scrapbooks and ephemera.
Condition of Material: Good.
Arrangement: Organized into series. Chronological arrangement.
Biographical / Historical Information: Edward Thompson Breathitt was a state legislator and governor of Kentucky. He was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on November 26, 1924. He attended local public schools and graduated from Hopkinsville High School in 1942. During the Second World War, he served in the United States Army Air Force. Following the war, Breathitt attended the University of Kentucky and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration in 1948. In 1951, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives where he served three consecutive terms. Breathitt was appointed State Personnel Commissioner in 1959 and later was a member of the Kentucky Public Service Commission. He was elected governor of Kentucky in 1962 and served a single term. After being governor, he became director of the Ford Foundation Institute for Rural America and was a founder of the Coalition for Rural America. He served on the board of regents for both the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University and received an honorary doctorate from Murray State University. He died on October 14, 2003.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, news releases and bills and resolutions from the Kentucky State House of Representatives and Senate accumulated by Edward T. Brethitt from 1961 to 1989. The collection also contains information on constitutional revision, state and county programs and departmental reports. Included in the papers are campaign speeches, scrapbooks, personal photographs, oral histories and correspondence from prominent state and national politicians.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Breathitt, Edward Thompson, 1924-2003
Politicians – Kentucky.
Legislators – Kentucky.
Governors – Kentucky.
Kentucky – Politics and government.
Additional Sources: See The Public Papers of Governor Edward T. Breathitt edited by Kenneth E. Harrell.
