Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project – Kentucky Dam Project
Series Number: OH227
Interviewee: Johnson, Larman
Interviewer: Dorisanna Conner
Date interviewed: May 5, 1995
Processed by: Dieter C. Ullrich on November 26, 2013.
Date processed: November 26, 2013
Description: 1 sound disc (25 minutes)
Abstract: Larman Johnson describes working for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) during the construction of the Kentucky Dam. He recalls working as a laborer at the quarry at Birmingham, Kentucky and as a carpenter's apprentice. He mentions the Great Depression, how he was hired by the TVA, labor unions, salaries, the hospital at Kentucky Dam Village, accidents and deaths at Kentucky Dam and Douglas Dam, the capture of a German spy, work conditions and the affects the dam had on the region.
Biographical / Historical note: Larman Johnson was born in Graves County, Kentucky on April 18, 1917. As a child his family moved to Paducah and attended school at Reidland and later Hardeman School in Mayfield. He did not graduate but became a carpenter's apprentice at Paducah. He began working for the Tennessee Valley Authority on October 2, 1939. He performed construction work at both Kentucky and Douglas Dams during the 1940s. He was laid off by the TVA just before the completion of the dam. He relocated to in Evansville, Indiana and was employed at a shipyard for fifteen years.
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:
Johnson, Larman, 1917-
Kentucky Dam (Ky.)
Douglas Dam (Tenn.)
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Dams – Kentucky.
Dams – Tennessee.
Land Between the Lakes (Ky. And Tenn.) – History.
