Council of the Southern Mountains records, Part 1

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: BCA 0002-SAA 001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection is comprised of the records of the Council of the Southern Mountains including: organizational and administrative records, conference records, financial records, records of several CSM commissions, materials and papers of the Community Action Program, records of the CSM publication Mountain Life and Work, reference materials, and photographs.

Dates

Creation: 1912 - 1976
Other: Date acquired: 04/24/1970

Creator

Council of the Southern Mountains. (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

No restrictions exist on use of this collection by researchers except for personnel records and any material protected by federal copyright law.

Extent

288.00 ms_boxes

115 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Council of the Southern Mountains records (1912-1976) document the goals, activities, and administrative history of a non-profit organization that served the people of the Appalachian region.

Arrangement Note

The collection is arranged in series as follows:

Series 1: Organizational and Administrative Records, 1915-1970
Series 2: General Correspondence, 1957-1970
Series 3: Annual Conference Records, 1912-1974
Series 4: Financial Records, 1923-1970
Series 5: Funding Agencies, 1952-1970
Series 6: Commission Records, 1926-1972
Series 7: Community Action Program (CAP) Materials, 1946-1970
Series 8: Mountain Life and Work, 1925-1970
Series 9: Urban Migrants, 1935-1970
Series 10: Reference Materials, 1913-1970
Series 11: Photographs
Series 12: Oversized Materials

Processing Notes to Researchers

I. Correspondence Organization: Series 2
As pre-1970 correspondence material was integrated into the collection in 2007, it became clear that consistency within the original order of the correspondence began to break down as the structure and leadership of the organization changed in the late 1960s. As expected with any significant staff turnover or organizational growth period, filing changes and inconsistencies increased. These filing differences became especially apparent from 1967 forward. Furthermore, as new material was integrated, it was found that office copies retained and filed in this section were meeting up with the carbon copies that had been retained in other divisions, commissions, or office files elsewhere. It seems that the correspondence found in Series II from the original deposit were the files maintained by the Executive and administration of the Council, and the papers being integrated from the second deposit where those from other staff scattered throughout the organization. (This is seen in the method by which the administration files have names written along the right hand margin of each item). The original order maintained during the original processing of the collection holds up, and has been maintained as much as possible, despite inconsistencies. It was necessary, however, to attempt to place integrated items into a system that varied. Therefore, the researcher should be aware of the following filing methods in the original order:
1. Sometimes material was filed according to the last name of the receiving correspondent, other times by the sending correspondent.
2. Some items are filed under the last name of the correspondent, other times by the name of the company or organization which they represented.
3. Sometimes items had been filed by CSM employee name referenced in the materials, or CCed, or interested in the topic discussed, rather than by sender or receiver.
4. Married female correspondents are often filed with their husband’s materials and/or under their husband’s name.
5. Correspondence also appears throughout the collection in other Series and may or may not be duplicated in the Master or General Correspondence files. Please be aware that these filing methods vary depending on the year. It is necessary for the researcher to check correspondence files in multiple locations in order to get a comprehensive view. It is important to keep in mind that these were working files, and although a simple and logical filing system was in place, the mental organization of the person(s) using them influenced where items were ultimately stored.

II. Comparison to Previous Finding Aid
Although 30 additional boxes of materials were added to the collection in 2007, the original processing method allowed for large amounts of space inside of many boxes. Therefore, after integration and consolidation of the collection, the final result actually reduced the number of manuscript boxes in the collection. The basic organization of the collection remains essentially intact, with the largest changes being the separation of Series 7: Projects into three separate series, and the consolidation of Series 8: Miscellaneous and Series 9: Newspaper Clippings into one series now called Series 10: Reference Materials.

Correspondence and other administrative materials are generally arranged in chronological order, in order to establish some sense of original order. Projects and reference materials are generally in alphabetical order by topic.

Copies of the old finding aid are available in the Special Collections Reading Room for reference purposes. No additional materials were added to the collection when the finding aid was updated in 2016.

Method of Acquisition

The records of the Council of the Southern Mountains, Part 1 (1912-1970) were given to Berea College via a resolution of the Council’s Board of Commissioners passed on April 24, 1970 during the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Council held at Junaluska, North Carolina.

Related Materials

Council of the Southern Mountains records, Part 2 (1970-1989), Berea College Special Collections and Archives
Appalachian Volunteers collection, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
Records of the 1962 Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
John C. and Olive Dame Campbell papers, The Southern Historical Collection, UNC Chapel Hill.
Southern Highland Division papers, Russell Sage Foundation Archives, New York, New York.

Related Publications

Kiffmeyer, Thomas J. “The Appalachian Volunteers: Fighting the War on Poverty in Kentucky, 1963-1970.” Thesis (MA) Eastern Kentucky University, 1988.

Kiffmeyer, Thomas J. “From Self-Help to Sedition: The Appalachian Volunteers: and the War on Poverty in eastern Kentucky, 1963-1970.” Thesis (Ph.D) University of Kentucky, 1998.

Messinger, Penny. Leading the Field of Mountain Work: the Conference of Southern Workers, 1913-1950. UMI Dissertations, 1998.

David Whisnant, “Controversy in God’s Grand Division: The Council of the Southern Mountains,” Appalachian Journal, Volume 2, Autumn, 1974, No. 1.

“More Controversy in God’s Grand Division: Communications to the Editor,” Appalachian Journal, Volume 2, Spring, 1975, No. 3.

Alfred H. Perrin, ed., Seeking a People Partnership - Challenges by Perley Ayer. 36 pages. 1969.

Processing Information

Processing Notes

The preliminary sorting, arrangement and description of these records was accomplished over several years, spanning 1972 to 1978, by Mr. Alfred H. Perrin, President of the Friends of the Berea College Library and volunteer worker. John McCleery and Loren Williams, student assistants, assisted Julia Miller, College Archivist, with final organization of the collection. The collection opened for research in 1978.

This collection represented the first of two deposits of CSM records to Berea College. CSM Records for 1970–1989, representing the second and final deposit of CSM Records, are also held at Berea College in the Southern Appalachian Archives (See SAA# 101 for more information).