Appalachian Regional Commission: UK Libraries ARC Collections

For more information on the Special Collections Research Center, please click on the "Access Information" tab above and scroll down.

For more information on the Special Collections Research Center, please click on the "Access Information" tab above and scroll down.

The Appalachian Regional Commission Oral History Project  consists of 33 interviews from past ARC staff members and officials. Topics include ARC projects and political opinions towards the ARC. 

Interviewees include:

Digital images of ARC publications are available online.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) collection at the University of Kentucky dates from the mid 1960s to the present and is becoming more comprehensive thanks to the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), and the Collaborative Federal Depository Program (CFDP). UK is developing a circulating collection for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) that will preserve the ARC publications in their original format. The libraries are also identifying digital copies for use by researchers. Currently, UK's collection has over 99 items published by the ARC and classified in the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification. There are many more ARC publications classified in the Library of Congress (LC) classification that are yet to be identified.

Item's from UK's collection are highlighted below.

In 1976 the ARC published a book entitled Appalachian Ways: A Guide to the Historic Mountain Heart of the East. This book includes color and black and white photos of maps, people, and places in Appalachia. Jill Durrance and William Shamblin, editors, tell the story of the lives of past and present people in Appalachian by highlighting cultural activities and historical events.

A major program area of the ARC is Health. Projects in this area focus on disease prevention and sickness prevention by providing appropriate facilities and education. In 1977 the ARC published a book entitled Primary Care Centers: Design and Construction. This book includes sketches, layouts, form templates and more for creating primary health care centers. The publication of this book was meant to provide guidelines for the creation of small rural clinics

In 1963, the President's ARC held a hearing in each Appalachian state. This photo was taken at a hearing held at Jenny Wiley State Park in Kentucky. From left to right: John Whisman, Governor Bert Combs, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. This photo can be found in the John D. Whisman Papers.

This is a small portion of a press release on April 9, 1963 from the Office of the White House Press Secretary. The full document is available in the John D. Whisman Papers, box 90, folder 1454.

Appalachia: Past and Future, Appalachian Regional Commission, 1965-2010 University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.