Aelred "Flash" Gray Papers
This collection consists of reports, notes, rosters, drafts, binders, clippings, and publications relating to Aelred Flash Gray's career with the University of Tennessee Planning Department and two of his publications, Norris, Tennessee: A History of America's First Self-Contained Greenbelt Town and Regional Planning: The TVA Experience.
The material is arranged into five topical series:
Series I: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 1933-1990, contains a brief record of Gray's early career with the TVA.
Series II: University of Tennessee, 1952-1981, contains materials documenting UT's graduate planning program, including such items as notes, binders, rosters, and final papers for Planning 5300 and Planning 5310. Both Gray and professor H. Brown Wright taught Planning 5300, and some of Wright's materials are included here.
Series III: Norris, Tennessee, 1933-1992, shows work that Gray did with the Norris City Council as well as drafts and notes for his Norris, Tennessee: A History of America's First Self-Contained Greenbelt Town.
Series IV: Regional Planning: the TVA Experience, 1933-1993, contains research and drafts pertaining to the final publication of the same name.
Series V: Publications and Reports, 1939-1988, houses publications that Gray saved, possibly for use as reference materials.
Dates
- 1933-1993
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
14.33 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection consists of reports, notes, rosters, drafts, binders, clippings, and publications relating to Aelred Flash Gray's career with the University of Tennessee Planning Department and two of his publications, Norris, Tennessee: A History of America's First Self-Contained Greenbelt Town and Regional Planning: The TVA Experience.
Biographical/Historical Note
Aelred Joseph Flash Gray was born in 1909 in Warren, Pennsylvania. He was known as a star football player in high school, and he continued to play while attending the University of Notre Dame in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was here that he earned his nickname Flash: although he was not a large man, he was fast.
Gray came to Tennessee in 1935 as the director of the TVA's community planning assistance program. Here, his work convinced TVA officials that planning needed to occur before dams and reservoirs were constructed. Gray worked closely with Earle S. Draper in planning Norris, Tennessee, which the men saw as the first of many TVA-founded model towns in the Tennessee Valley. Gray also developed the TVA's Flood Damage Prevention Program in the 1950s, which became a national model. After nearly 40 years of service, Gray retired from TVA and began teaching at the University of Tennessee. At the University, he was instrumental in establishing a graduate planning program. At the time of his death on July 16, 2000, Gray was known to many as the grandfather of planning.
Arrangement
Collection consists of nine boxes. Material is divided into five series: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); University of Tennessee; Norris, Tennessee; Regional Planning: The TVA Experience; and Publications and Reports.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository