This report on the Guntersville project, like the companion reports published on other construction projects completed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is intended to give the engineering profession and general public facts about the planning, design, construction, and initial operations of the Guntersville project. The report, compiled from construction data and final records contained in the Authority's files, is restricted to the more important facts concerning the development and construction of the project.
Created by the federal government in 1933 to revitalize a region twice the size of New England, the Tennessee Valley Authority began as an experiment of unprecedented proportions. Seen here through picture postcards, the dramatic achievements of the TVA take on a personal aspect, as individuals visit the hydroelectric projects and enjoy the newly created recreational opportunities. Tangible benefits are also documented, such as improved navigation, new roads and bridges, and abundant and inexpensive electricity. Influenced by such visionaries as Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Norris, the agency also dealt with regional issues, including river commerce, soil conservation, and flood control.
Examines the role of press coverage in promoting the mission of the TVA, facilitating family relocation, and formulating the historical legacy of the New Deal For poverty-stricken families in the Tennessee River Valley during the Great Depression, news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal plans to create the Tennessee Valley Authority--bringing the promise of jobs, soil conservation, and electricity--offered hope for a better life. The TVA dams would flood a considerable amount of land on the riverbanks, however, forcing many families to relocate. In exchange for this sacrifice for the "greater good," these families were promised "fair market value" for their land. As the first geographic location to benefit from the electricity provided by TVA, the people of North Alabama had much to gain, but also much to lose. In The Greater Good: Media, Family Removal, and TVA Dam Construction in North Alabama Laura Beth Daws and Susan L. Brinson describe the region's preexisting conditions, analyze the effects of relocation, and argue that local newspapers had a significant impact in promoting the TVA's agenda. The authors contend that it was principally through newspapers that local residents learned about the TVA and the process and reasons for relocation. Newspapers of the day encouraged regional cooperation by creating an overwhelmingly positive image of the TVA, emphasizing its economic benefits and disregarding many of the details of removal. Using mostly primary research, the volume addresses two key questions: What happened to relocated families after they sacrificed their homes, lifestyles, and communities in the name of progress? And what role did mediated communication play in both the TVA's family relocation process and the greater movement for the public to accept the TVA's presence in their lives? The Greater Good offers a unique window into the larger impact of the New Deal in the South. Until now, most research on the TVA was focused on organizational development rather than on families, with little attention paid to the role of the media in garnering acceptance of a government-enforced relocation.
Historians have long recognized the middle of the twentieth century as significant in the history of the modern South, owing to a convergence of social change, political realignment, and cultural expansion. This period in southern history has provided extensive material for scholars of race, gender, and politics. In addition, sweeping economic changes spread throughout the South, permanently shifting the area's material resources. Transforming the South examines this transition from farm to factory and explores the dramatic reshaping of the region's economy. Matthew L. Downs focuses on three developments in the Tennessee Valley: the World War I-era government nitrate plants and hydroelectric dams at Muscle Shoals, Alabama; the extensive work completed by the Tennessee Valley Authority; and Cold War/Space Age defense investment in Huntsville, Alabama. Downs argues that the modernization of the Sunbelt economy depended on cooperation between regional leaders and federal funders. Local boosters lobbied to receive federal funds for their communities while simultaneously forming economic development organizations that would prepare those communities for further growth. Economic reform also drove social reform: as members of historically disenfranchised groups attained employment in the new industrial workforce, they gained financial and political capital to push for social change. Transforming the South considers the role played by the recipients of government funds in the mid-twentieth century and demonstrates how communities exerted an unparalleled influence over the federal investments that shaped the southern economy.
4. Reinterpreting the Shell Mound Archaic in Western Tennessee: A GIS-Based Approach to Radiocarbon Sampling of New Deal-Era Site Collections - Thaddeus G. Bissett -- 5. Depression-Era Archaeology in the Watts Bar Reservoir, East Tennessee - Shannon Koerner and Jessica Dalton-Carriger -- 6. WPA Excavations at the Mound Bottom and Pack Sites in Middle Tennessee, 1936-1940 - Michael C. Moore, David H. Dye, and Kevin E. Smith -- 7. Reconfiguring the Chickamauga Basin - Lynne P. Sullivan
