Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Duvin Mine Explosion
Series Number: OH185
Interviewee: Davis, Nettie and Calbert, Virginia
Interviewer: Robyn W. Dunn
Date interviewed: November 26, 1995
Processed by: Processed by Benjamin J. Drake in September of 2012.
Date processed: October 1, 2012
Description: 1 sound disc (46 minutes)
Abstract: Nettie Davis and Virginia Calbert discuss their recollections of the Duvin Mine explosion on July 14, 1939 at Providence, Kentucky. They discuss James R. Gaither, the brother of Ms. Davis, and George Louis Springfield, the husband of Mrs. Calbert, who perished in the explosion. They describe the scene outside the mine in the hours and days following the explosion and the impact of the disaster on the community. They also recount the racial and economic conditions of the area at that time.
Biographical / Historical note: Nettie Davis was born December 5, 1921. She was the sister of James R. Gaither, a miner that died in the Duvin Mine explosion on July 14, 1939. Virginia Calbert was born on May 6, 1906. She was the wife of George Louis Springfield, another miner who died in the disaster. She remarried in 1972 and died on June 3, 2004.
General information: No user access to 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:
Davis, Nettie, 1921-
Calbert, Virginia, 1906-2004
Ruckman Coal Company.
Duvin Coal Mines (Providence, Ky.)
Coal miners – Kentucky – Webster County.
Coal mines and mining – Kentucky – Webster County.
Mine explosions – Kentucky.
