Collection Title: Corrine Whitehead Papers
Series Number: MS20-03
Processed and Cataloged by: Samantha Greeson and Sarah Hardaway
Date Listed: February 5, 2021
Date Span: 1950-1994
Size of Collection: 15.13 linear feet
Number of Boxes: 33
Type of Material: Articles, reports, maps, VHS cassette tapes, booklets, and other paper ephemera.
Condition of Material: Good
Arrangement: Type of material and physical size.
Biographical / Historical Information: Corrine Whitehead was a prominent leader in advocating for environmental justice in the Western Kentucky region. Whitehead founded the Coalition for Health Concern, a nonprofit organization that advocated for environmental justice. The colatition fought to have a hazardous waste incinerator (LWD) closed and fought for workers' rights to compensation after declining health resulting from working at plants including the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah and LWD in Calvert City. Whitehead also supported cases taken to the U.S. Supreme Court over properties seized by the Tennessee Valley Authority over eminent domain for the creation of Land Between the Lakes. Whitehead's research was concerned with public awareness of environmental issues and earthquake vulnerability in the Jackson Purchase Region.
Scope and Content: This collection includes correspondence to and from Corrine Whitehead mostly in relation to environmental concerns in West Kentucky. The papers that make up this collection include facilities reports, newspaper articles, and documents associated with earthquake and industrial hazards in the Western Kentucky region. There are many photographs of the areas that she was involved in studying, some include Calvert City for air quality, Paducah for the Gaseous Diffusion Plant hazardous waste materials dilemma, the New Madrid Faultline area for earthquakes, and the Land Between the Lakes area for water quality. There is also information on the Tennessee Valley Authority and timber in Land Between the Lakes.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Land Between the Lakes (Ky. and Tenn.)
Tennessee Valley Authority
Kentucky, Northern
Environmental Protection
