HENRY BLACKWELL PHOTOGRAPHS
1940

East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614

E-mail: archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338

INTRODUCTION

Title: Henry Blackwell Photographs
Collection Number: Accession No. 122
Physical Description: 1 5" x 6" Box
Creator: Henry Blackwell
Repository: Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The Henry Blackwell Photographs were donated to the Archives of Appalachia on August 9, 1982 by Henry Blackwell, Johnson City, Tennessee.

Access: The collection is open for research.

Processing Information: Marie Tedesco completed processing and the photographs were opened for research in August 1982.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE

Henry Blackwell was born and raised in the Tri-Cities region. His father worked for the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), and, as a consequence, the young Blackwell early developed a fondness for the railroad. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree. He served in the United States Army's transportation corps in England and France during World War II. After the war Blackwell remained in the army reserves as the head of a transportation unit headquartered in Johnson City. The unit was reactivated in August 1950 after the June 25th North Korean invasion of South Korea precipitated the Korean conflict. Blackwell reported for duty on September 9, 1950. Subsequently he was sent to Korea where he remained until shortly after the Panmunjom armistice of July 7, 1953. After returning from Korea Blackwell entered into the trucking business with his brother. This venture lasted until 1958 when Blackwell took a position with the state of Tennessee working in manpower and labor-related jobs. Eventually, he became upper East Tennessee's director for the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program.

The negatives and contact prints focus on the August 13, 1940 flood on the Linville River Railroad (LRR), a narrow gauge railroad which ran from Pineola, North Carolina to Cranberry, North Carolina. LRR was owned by Cranberry Iron, Coal and Coke, the same company which had controlling interest in ET&WNC.* The August 1940 flood washed away track and bridges and helped hasten the abandonment of LRR. Shortly after the flood LRR requested permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to abandon the line. The ICC granted this permission on March 22, 1941.

*For further information on ET&WNC, see the guide to the ET&WNC records.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Henry Blackwell Photographs consist of 44 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 black and white negatives, and 44 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 black and white contact prints on the August 13, 1940 LRR flood. The negatives and contact prints have been assigned corresponding APA numbers 986 through 1029, and Blackwell (BL) numbers 1 through 44. The negatives and prints depict washed out track, creek beds along the LRR line, abandoned track and similar scenes relating to the flood. The negatives and prints are stored in one 5" x 6" box and shelved in the photograph storage area according to accession number.

Important subjects covered in this collection include:

Floods
Linville River Railway
Railroad bridges
Railroads
Railroads--Track

BOX LIST

BOX 1: Negatives and Contacts (negatives are stored first; contacts second)

MTC