Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Kentucky Dam Project
Series Number: OH201
Interviewee: Gunn, Pete, Jr.
Interviewer: Miller, Chamonie S.
Date interviewed: October 30, 1995
Processed by: Benjamin J. Drake
Date processed: February 4, 2013
Description: 2 sound discs (71 minutes)
Abstract: Pete Gunn Jr. describes his experiences while working with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on the Kentucky Dam and the Manhattan Project at Oakridge, Tennessee. The interview contains a biographical accounting of his life and career through the late 1940s. He discusses his duties as a company messenger, training as an engineer and the interactions he had with management. Gunn covers a variety of topics including horseplay, safety, injuries and fatalities, employee relations and significant events. The interview concludes with a discussion on his time at Oakridge as part of the Manhattan Project.
Biographical / Historical note: Pete Gunn Jr. was born August 18, 1920 in Winchester, Tennessee. His father moved the family to Benton, Kentucky on September 3, 1939 to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on the Kentucky Dam. In September of 1941 he began working on the Kentucky Dam. While on the dam project he trained as an engineer. In 1943, he worked for a shipyard in Texas and later on the Manhattan Project at Oakridge, Tennessee. He returned to Benton in 1946 and worked in the automotive and sporting goods businesses, before joining his father-in-law in the insurance business in 1947. He was the founder and former owner of Morgan, Trevathan and Gunn Insurance, a former elder and deacon at the Benton Church of Christ and the Briensburg Church of Christ. He died on June 9, 2002.
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:
Gunn, Pete, Jr., 1920-2002
Kentucky Dam (Ky.)
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Dams – Kentucky.
Land Between the Lakes (Ky. And Tenn.) – History.
Marshall County (Ky.)
