T.J. Wood Jr. Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: BCA 0139 SAA 139

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection is comprised of copies of Tom J. Wood’s 1949 and 1950 Renfro Valley broadcast recordings as well as copies of recordings of the June 1970 Renfro Valley Barn Dance and Homecoming Show.

Listen To Recordings

Dates

created: 1949-1970

Creator

Wood, Thomas J., Jr. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College. Some recordings are available online.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission granted to make single photocopies for a researcher’s private use. Permission is also granted to make copies of recordings for a researcher’s private use for scholarly purposes; however, permission to copy recordings for any commercial use of the Renfro Valley Broadcasts and non-broadcast recordings must be obtained from the heirs of John Lair, and, after their deaths, from Berea College.

Extent

2.00 boxes_(general)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Born in Berea in 1921, Thomas J. Wood, Jr. was a Navy veteran of World War II and a graduate of Harvard University and the Harvard Business School. Wood had a lifelong career in advertising. Acting as an agent for John Lair, Wood would sell a package of three network Renfro Valley radio programs—the Saturday night Barn Dance, Sunday Morning Gathering, and Country Store—to General Foods in New York. He later returned to New York, becoming Vice-President and Management Supervisor of the J. Walter Thompson Company, then America’s largest advertising agency. He specialized in the testing, advertising and national introduction of some 20 products for major national clients. Wood died in 2009 and was buried in Berea.

Other Descriptive Information

Collection Number: BCA 0139 SAA 139

Processing Information

The collection was arranged by Harry Rice, Sound Archivist. The finding aid was created in August 2015 by Harry Rice and Lori Myers-Steele, Collections Archivist.