With over 14, cubic feet of TVA records held at the National Archives at Atlanta, we provide a small sampling with this exhibit. Land Restoration View. Peripheral Activities View. Civilian Conserv. Corps View. It was established as an independent agency of the federal government to further the economic development of an impoverished, mountainous region covering most of Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states.
The TVA was one of several large river basin development projects launched during the s, like those on the Columbia, Missouri and Colorado Rivers. The TVA engaged in many other activities, as well, such as malaria prevention, reforestation, forest fire suppression, erosion control, fertilizer development, agricultural education, advice to farmers and wildlife habitat protection [2].
A key purpose of TVA was to provide electricity to rural areas underserved, or even ignored, by private power companies. It grew out of a long struggle over the hydroelectric potential at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and dovetailed with New Deal efforts to regulate private monopolies and bring electricity to the whole country [4]. The TVA played a critical role during World War II, its huge electricity supply used to produce raw materials for munitions, fertilizer for food production, and aluminum for aircraft.
President Franklin D. The Act tasked the TVA with: improving the navigability of the Tennessee River; providing flood control through reforestation of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley watershed; developing agriculture, commerce and industry in the valley; and operating the hydroelectric Wilson Dam. In addition to the Wilson Dam, the Act gave TVA the authority to acquire lands along the Tennessee River and any of its tributaries for the construction of future dams, reservoirs, transmission lines or power plants.
Low energy rates would help to ensure affordable, reliable power for all. The TVA Act encouraged economic development and provided jobs by bringing electricity to rural areas for the first time. Power companies vehemently opposed the TVA, resenting the cheaper energy the TVA provided and saw the agency as a threat to private enterprise. However, in , the U. New Deal proponents had hoped to use the TVA model to build other public utility and economic development agencies around the country, but these efforts were defeated by Willkie and conservatives in Congress.
Willkie ran for president as the Republican nominee in Depression-era political cartoonists frequently lampooned the TVA and other New Deal agencies and programs for taking on characteristics of socialism. By , more than 9, people found employment with the TVA.
The agency built 16 hydroelectric dams in the Tennessee Valley between and TVA extension programs taught farmers new techniques that would help to control soil erosion and increase land productivity. Some of those techniques included crop rotation, plowing with the contours of the land to minimize erosion, planting cover crops and the use of phosphate fertilizers.
Many communities were impacted in positive ways by the TVA, by improving living standards and creating jobs. Yet others experienced long-lasting negative impacts. Some communities, however, were displaced by TVA projects. For instance, roughly 3, families in eastern Tennessee lost their homes when the Norris Dam was built. The project flooded an area of roughly square acres in the Norris Basin.
The federal government offered little help in resettling displaced families. Today, TVA is the largest public utility and one of the largest electricity providers in the United States. TVA in recent years has faced a number of federal lawsuits for their handling and storage of coal ash, a toxic byproduct of coal combustion.
The spill covered land, inundated houses and flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River.
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