Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Kentucky Dam Project
Series Number: OH207
Interviewee: Jessup, George P., Jr.
Interviewer: Rousey, Eric
Date interviewed: January 12, 1995
Processed by: Benjamin J. Drake
Date processed: March 14, 2013
Description: 1 sound disc (56 minutes)
Abstract: George P. Jessup, Jr. describes his father’s, George P. Jessup, Sr., involvement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) during the construction of Kentucky Dam from 1938 to 1944. He provides a biographical sketch of his father’s life prior to working for the TVA and details his father’s employment on the Kentucky Dam. He also mentions his father’s interactions with TVA engineers and other employees. Jessup concludes with recollections on his father’s opinions on labor unions, racial relations, supervision of employees and the hierarchical structure adhered to by the TVA.
Biographical / Historical note: George P. Jessup, Jr. was the son of noted dam engineer George P. Jessup. He was born on November 13, 1923 at Iron Mountain, Michigan. When his father began to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) around 1935, the family moved to the Wheeler Dam site in Alabama and later to Paducah, Kentucky. While in Paducah he attended Paducah Tilghman High School. After the Kentucky Dam was completed the family returned to his father’s home in Ithaca, New York. There George Jessup Jr. attended Cornell University. He died on October 8, 2005.
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:
Jessup, George P., Jr., 1923–2005.
Jessup, George P., Sr., 1884-
Kentucky Dam (Ky.)
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Dams – Kentucky.
Land Between the Lakes (Ky. And Tenn.) – History.
