Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project - Lifestyles
Series Number: OH109
Interviewee: Hatcher, W. O.
Interviewer: Pasco, Kathryn
Date interviewed: January 17, 1980
Processed by: Tara Marcum
Date processed: June 7, 2011
Description: 1 sound disc (29 minutes)
Abstract: W. O. Hatcher describes his life in Murray and Hazel, Kentucky from the 1920s to the 1940s. He describes that his family home was lit with kerosene lamps, heated by a coal fireplace and drew water from a well in the backyard. He describes his daily chores such as lawn mowing, weeding the garden and picking blackberries and strawberries to sell at the local grocery store. He recalled as a child attending such events as square dances, candy pulling and playing games such as kick the can and hide-and-seek. His childhood dream was to become a mail clerk on a train. During the Great Depression, Hatcher recalled there being a shortage of money to buy food. He mentioned that the Depression made it difficult for him to buy shoes and he went without them for months. He described working for the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.
Biographical / Historical note: W. O. Hatcher was born in Murray, Kentucky on December 21, 1916. His father was a carpenter and a painter and his mother worked at home. His father found work in Hazel when he was in the seventh grade and family relocated there. His father died soon afterwards. He took his first job at his uncle's tobacco barn for 14 cents an hour at age fifteen. Hatchers worked for the Works Progress Administration pouring concrete streets and for the Civilian Conservation Corps planting pine and locust trees in Murray.
General information: No user access original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Hatcher, W. O.
Calloway County (Ky.) – History.
Murray (Ky.) – History.
Hazel (Ky.) – History.
National Youth Administration workers in Kentucky.
United States. Works Progress Administration.
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) – Kentucky – Calloway County.
