Collection Title: Henry Ward Manuscript
Series Number: MS10-25
Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Dieter C. Ullrich on May 25, 2010.
Date Listed: May 25, 2010
Date Span: 1974
Size of Collection: 0.10 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 1 legal size file folder; 1 item.
Type of Material: Manuscript.
Condition of Material: Good.
Arrangement: Chronological arrangement.
Biographical / Historical Information: Henry Thomas Ward was a politician and state legislator from McCracken County, Kentucky. He was born on June 20, 1909 in New Hope, Kentucky. He attended public schools and graduated from Tilghman High School at Paducah in 1928. After graduation he was hired by the Paducah Sun Democrat as a reporter. He later became city editor and editorial columnist. Ward served five terms as state representative (1934-1943) from McCracken County and was majority leader in 1942. He campaigned for the Democratic Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor in 1943 but lost in the state primary. He served as state senator from 1945 to 1948 and as commissioner of conservation from 1948 to 1956. From 1960 to 1966, Ward was commissioner of the Highway Department and also was chairman of the Kentucky State Park Board from 1960 to 1964. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1967. He retired from public life in 1974. He has been called the “father of Kentucky’s park system”.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of a typescript manuscript titled “Recollections of 45 years in Government and Politics” by Henry Ward. The autobiography offers insight on the inner workings of state government and politics in Kentucky from the 1930s to the 1970s. Ward details his career as a newspaper reporter, serving in the Kentucky House of Representatives and State Senate, publicity chairman for Senator Alben W. Barkley and working on numerous political campaigns including those of Harry Lee Waterfield, Lawrence Weatherby, Earle C. Clements, Edward T. Breathitt and others. Along with the manuscript are newspaper clippings and a bibliography of newspaper articles published by Ward in 1956 and 1968.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Ward, Henry Thomas, 1909-
Breathitt, Edward Thompson, 1924-2003.
Waterfield, Harry Lee, 1911-1988.
Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956.
Clements, Earle Chester, 1896-1985.
Politicians – Kentucky – McCracken County.
Kentucky – Politics and government.
Legislators – Kentucky.
Paducah (Ky.) – History.
