Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 18: PUBLICATIONS RELATED
1950 Roscoe Giffin
People of the Pine Mountain School District,
Pine Mountain Community Study
Harlan County, Kentucky
Preface and Index
School bus. Series VII-52 Children & Classes. 1950’s Community School bus [elem_023.jpg]
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the PMS School District Preface and Index
Originally proposed as a study by Francis S. Hutchins, President of Berea and a trustee of Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1949, the year the Boarding School ended at Pine Mountain Settlement School. The large socio-economic study of the Pine Mountain service area comprised of small communities close to the School was requested as a survey to determine the impact of the closure of the Settlement School’s boarding school program on the educational needs of the service area and to identify potential new services the Settlement School might provide to the surrounding population. The study assisted in the development of a Community School plan on the Pine Mountain Settlement School campus that would also serve as a training facility for Berea College students preparing for careers in education. The Community School closed in 1972 when the new Green Hills Elementary School was established close by the Settlement campus.
Mary Rogers writing in her succinct history The Pine Mountain Settlement School, outlined the series of events that led to the Settlement School closure and the need for review of the changes in the mountain and studies such as the Berea/Giffin Study. She explains in socio-economic terms why such studies were a necessary and critical step in shaping the educational future for the families on the North side of Pine Mountain and to the future existence of the Pine Mountain Settlement School.
Mary Rogers, in her The Pine Mountain Story, describes the creation of the educational program:
Superficially the area on the north side of Pine Mountain changed little during the years 1930-1949. Now that there was a road over the mountain a few motor vehicles made their appearance in the thirties. Men were able to drive to work at distant logging camps, sawmills and mines. In the forties war’s demand for coal caused a boom in the coal industry. Miles of country roads were improved to carry coal from remote truck mines. Another road, a blacktop, crossed Pine Mountain eleven miles down the valley. Miners were receiving higher pay than ever before. Many skilled and unskilled workers were attracted by higher wages to leave the mountains. A number of the teaching force abandoned education for industry.
Reports on education in Harlan County at the end of the forties show that a high percentage of the children were not attending school at all, or that attendance was irregular. Prices for food and commodities, hence also for labor, had soared. It was hard to keep schoolhouses in repair. Listings show that many had no clean drinking water, or indoor toilets, and a few no facilities for washing hands. Many buildings had insufficient space and were fire hazards. Even more lacked adequate lighting and heating. Storage space, library books, lunchrooms, and playgrounds were generally absent. Some were staffed only intermittently and by emergency teachers who might have finished high school, but had no further training. The county was faced with a dilemma. Even if it could raise money to improve the school it was impossible to gauge population trends in the post-war slump. School buildings were rated “poor” or “fair” but opposite the name of the school in nearly every district was the entry “Decrease in population expected.” Would the school board be justified in spending public money on capital expenditure?
Roscoe Giffin takes Mary’s observations and expands them into a full study of the surrounding community and the Harlan County educational support system for the isolated populations on the North side of the long Pine Mountain. The Giffin study was never published, but it is a central document in the history of the Pine Mountain Settlement School and its service area and its accommodations to the needs of Post -War demands in the Harlan County Schools system.
Copies of the Study reside at Berea along with additional documents used in its preparation.
Pine Mountain (Kentucky) Community Study Records
ROSCOE GIFFIN
PEOPLE OF THE PINE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICT, HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY
A Study of Selected Aspects of Their
Population, Families, Economy, Social Organization,
and
Values and Attitudes
as of
Summer, 1950
by
Roscoe Giffin
Berea College
TRANSCRIPTION: SPECIAL NOTES, ERRATA , PREFACE, and INDEX,
SPECIAL NOTES AND ERRATA
2. 1st par. , last sentence: This promise of propgnostication not kept
8. Last par., Last complete sentence.: Change to read: In this region of narrow valleys and sharply sloping hillsides, there is no reason to be surprised that over 50 per cent of the households cultivated five acres or less, and only seven reported more than 10 acres in crops.”
39. Table 8: Change title to read. “Children No Longer Living in Parental Home by Location and Sex. Numerical and Percentage Distribution by Sex.”
40. Table 9: Change title to read. “Children No Longer Living in Parental Home by Location and Sex: Percentage Distribution by Location.”
43. Table 11: Change title to read, “Children No Longer Living in Parental Home by Location and Formal Education: Percentage Distribution by Formal Education.”
53. 1st par., 9th line: Change “Families” to family’s”.
78. last par. 2nd sentence: “This promise of prognostication also not kept.”
PREFACE
This study was first proposed to the writer by Frances Hutchins, President of Berea College. After several consultations with Burton Rogers, principal [of] Pine Mountain School and a brief tour of the Pine Mountain area, the design of the study was begun early in June of 1950. We received much benefit in the design stages for consultations with members of the rural and liberal arts departments of sociology at the University of Kentucky. Due to the pressure of time, We were particularly grateful to be able to use some of the stencils for the 1949 farm family study, as prepared by the Rural Sociology Department.
The questionnaire, which finally emerged early in July, was thus a combination of questions of general significance for rural Kentucky and others of specific bearing on the Pine Mountain situation. Some of the questions which seemed of interest invalid at the early stages of the interviewing were found to be unusable in the light of our hindsight judgment. Many other interesting and significant questions. Should have been included, while others might well have been excluded. But such is the pathway of the pursuit of knowledge. Satisfaction can be only relative.
The homes at which interviews were taken were those which were within the confines of the Pine Mountain Consolidated School District, as it was created in 1949 The specific neighborhoods and former school districts are described at other points in this study, but we want to mention here one group of families who were excluded, although they were within the geographic limits This group included perhaps six families in about 6 single persons whose principal employment was with the Pine Mountain School. About. half of these families and nearly all the single persons had come into the
p. iii
area as school employees and were thus not a part of the native population. Most of them lived on campus. The principal. the principal reason for excluding all this group was that this group, in general, represents such a sharp contrast with the rest of the population of the area that it constitutes, literally a separate universe of data. Our interest was in the population being served by this institution, rather than the institution itself.
Part of the pressure of time, [of] which we spoke earlier, was due to the fact that several interviewers were much desired for this survey. Had other plans which required that the field work should be done by about August 1st. These interviewers were Mrs. Birdina Bishop and her daughter, Jane Bishop Nauss. Mrs. [Birdina]. Bishop had taught for several years at Pine Mountain during the days of the high school, and her daughter was a graduate of the high school [and Berea College]. They were thus acquainted with the people and region and provided an invaluable entree. As Mrs. Bishop had used community contacts and surveys as part of her teaching methods, she was unusually well-informed.
[map_ext_workmod.jpg] Pine Mountain Community Map [See Giffin, 19″People of the Pine Mountain School District, Harlan County, KY”]
We found generally a ready reception when we knocked on the door of a mountain home. Or helloed from the yard or road. There were those who had speculated we would have great difficulty getting our answers, and that we would meet with considerable hostility because we were prying into private business. On the contrary, we were well received in all but a few
p. iv
Cases and our experience in these few cases was with individuals who were generally known to be quite difficult to get along with. No interviewer can, of course, be absolutely certain of the veracity of any information. He obtains however. there are generally enough cross checks available in a lengthy survey form, such as we used, so that most people will nullify their efforts to mislead by their own inconsistencies. It is the writer’s conviction that any limitation to be placed on the validity of the data. Her rise is not from misleading or dishonest statements given us, but from lack of information, possible misunderstanding of the question, or errors of recording and analysis We have only appreciation for the courtesy and hospitality of the interviewees. It should be added that one additional reason for the rather low average number of interviews obtained per day was that the hospitality of so many homes made it difficult for us to bring the visit to a halt when the interviewing was completed.
During the period of our interviewing, we all lived on the campus of Pine Mountain School. We thus had an opportunity to talk with many of the workers about the general problems considered in the survey and although their information does not appear as statistics, some of it has perhaps unconsciously crept into the interpretations at various points.
The questionnaires have been available only to this writer and those who have been employed in the tabulation. No member of the Pine Mountain staff or Berea College has had access to them. Those who have worked on the data were strangers to these people and were thus not in any position to reveal confidential information to anyone who might be interested. We are. thus reasonably confident that our original pledge to maintain the interviews as confidential information has been successful.
p. v
Among those. to whom the rider is indebted for doing most of the laborious work of coding, Melissa’s. and tabulation of the data are Maxine Burr, Millicent Hedges, and Margaret Slocum for a limited period. Shirley Whaleyer. Has carried most of the burden by typing, but with the assistance of Miss Burr. All of these persons were majors in the Department of Sociology of Berea College. And did this work as part of the work program of the college The writer is also indebted to his wife, Florence Giffen, for direct help on some of the tabulation and typing. As well as for doing those many things a wife does, which in turn makes it possible for a husband to give his attention to a project both specialized and remote from the actual “bread. and butter” of life.
Such funds as have been expended in the study were made available by the Lilly Foundation of Indianapolis through the agency of Berea College. Aside from the actual field work, the writer has assembled the study around the edges of his life as [a] professor of sociology at Berea College. Needless to say, the edge is narrow and the gestation for producing the study has been thereby unduly long.
Berea, Kentucky Roscoe Giffin
May 31, 1952
p. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Introduction | 1 |
| Summary and Conclusions | 8 |
| Population growth and Composition | 20 |
| Families by Size and Type | 47 |
| Income, associated Variable, and Levels of Living | 58 |
| Residential and Occupational Mobility | 90 |
| Welfare Provisions | 97 |
| Social Organization and Participation | 101 |
| Values and Attitudes |
p. vii
| TABLES | PAGE | |
| 1. | Age and sex distribution of the population [IN THE SURVEY]. | 22 |
| 2. | Married women by age and by number of children ever born per mother and total children ever born. | 25 |
| 3. | Mother’s 45 and over and their own mothers compared as to number of children ever born for mother as to total number of children ever born. | 27 |
| 4. | Educational status of youth 6 to 17 years of age. | 29 |
| 5. | Educational status of men and women 8. Years and over. | 32 |
| 6. | computations regarding marital status. | 34 |
| 7. | Children no longer living in parental home by sex industrial attachment location and formal education. | 38 |
| 8. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex. Numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 39 |
| 9. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex, percentage distribution by sex. | 40 |
| 10. | Location of children no longer living in parental home by specific location and sex. | 41 |
| 11. | Children no longer in parental home by location in formal education, numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 43 |
| 12. | Children no longer living in parental home by location, industrial attachment and sex. | 45 |
| 13. | Households with and without children and their aggregate population distributed by size of households. | 49 |
| 14. | Households distributed by size and type. | 51 |
| 15. | Population distributed by size and type of resonant household. | 52 |
| 16. | Households by neighborhoods and amount of cash income. | 56 |
| 17. | Value of home production in relation to cash income. | 60 |
| 18. | Households by combined amounts of cash income and value of home production. | 62 |
| 19. | Relation between value of home production and acres in crops | 66 |
p. vii
| TABLES | PAGE | |
| 1. | Age and sex distribution of the population. | 22 |
| 2. | Married women by age and by number of children ever born per mother and total children ever born. | 25 |
| 3. | Mother’s 45 and over and their own mothers compared as to number of children ever born for mother as to total number of children ever born. | 27 |
| 4. | Educational status of youth 6 to 17 years of age. | 29 |
| 5. | Educational status of men and women 8. Years and over. | 32 |
| 6. | computations regarding marital status. | 34 |
| 7. | Children no longer living in parental home by sex industrial attachment location and formal education. | 38 |
| 8. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex. Numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 39 |
| 9. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex, percentage distribution by sex. | 40 |
| 10. | Location of children no longer living in parental home by specific location and sex. | 41 |
| 11. | Children no longer in parental home by location in formal education, numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 43 |
| 12. | Children no longer living in parental home by location, industrial attachment and sex. | 45 |
| 13. | Households with and without children and their aggregate population distributed by size of households. | 49 |
| 14. | Households distributed by size and type. | 51 |
| 15. | Population distributed by size and type of resonant household. | 52 |
| 16. | Households by neighborhoods and amount of cash income. | 56 |
| 17. | Value of home production in relation to cash income. | 60 |
| 18. | Households by combined amounts of cash income and value of home production. | 62 |
| 19. | Relation between value of home production and acres in crops | 66 |
p. vii
| TABLES | PAGE | |
| 1. | Age and sex distribution of the population. | 22 |
| 2. | Married women by age and by number of children ever born per mother and total children ever born. | 25 |
| 3. | Mother’s 45 and over and their own mothers compared as to number of children ever born for mother as to total number of children ever born. | 27 |
| 4. | Educational status of youth 6 to 17 years of age. | 29 |
| 5. | Educational status of men and women 8. Years and over. | 32 |
| 6. | computations regarding marital status. | 34 |
| 7. | Children no longer living in parental home by sex industrial attachment location and formal education. | 38 |
| 8. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex. Numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 39 |
| 9. | Children no longer living in parental home by location and sex, percentage distribution by sex. | 40 |
| 10. | Location of children no longer living in parental home by specific location and sex. | 41 |
| 11. | Children no longer in parental home by location in formal education, numerical and percentage distribution by location. | 43 |
| 12. | Children no longer living in parental home by location, industrial attachment and sex. | 45 |
| 13. | Households with and without children and their aggregate population distributed by size of households. | 49 |
| 14. | Households distributed by size and type. | 51 |
| 15. | Population distributed by size and type of resonant household. | 52 |
| 16. | Households by neighborhoods and amount of cash income. | 56 |
| 17. | Value of home production in relation to cash income. | 60 |
| 18. | Households by combined amounts of cash income and value of home production. | 62 |
| 19. | Relation between value of home production and acres in crops | 66 |
p. viii
| TABLES | PAGE | |
| 20. | Distribution of land holdings by tenure in size. | 68 |
| 21.. | Relation between value of home production and size of household. | 70 |
| 22.. | Households by value of home production and number of hogs owned. | 71 |
| 23. | Ownership of livestock, according to level of household income. | 73 |
| 24. | Distribution of cash income by major occupations. | 74 |
| 25. | Age of head of household related to cash income. | 77 |
| 26. | Households by socioeconomic status scale scores and by neighborhoods. | 83 |
| 27. | Income of households in relation to type of housing, ownership of specified household equipment and cars and trucks. | 86 |
| 28. | Size of household in relation to cash income. | 88 |
| 29. | Number of years in past 20 husband and wife have lived in Pine Mountain area. | 91 |
| 30. | Number of different places in which husband and wife have resided in past 20 years. | 93 |
| 31.. | Travel experience of husband and wife. | 94 |
| 32. | Relation of number of years in the labor force to the number of occupations of head of household. | 96 |
| 33 | Recipients of public aid by type and amount. | 98 |
| 34. | Distribution of dependence by number and type. | 100 |
| 35 | By number of first cousins and closer family relationships. | 103 |
| 36. | Families visited with most often. | 105 |
| 37. | Family visits, according to neighborhoods. | 106 |
| 38. | Visits by neighborhood in kinship. | 108 |
| 39. | Scores on Chapin formal social participation index by households and by men and women. | 122 |
| 40. | Attitudes toward the Pine Mountain area as a place to live by neighborhoods. | 130 |
| 41. | Attitudes toward moving away from Pine Mountain by neighborhoods. | 132 |
p. ix
| 42. | Attitudes Toward Land for Farming purposes by Neighborhoods. | 134 |
| 43 | Where Parents Would Like Their Children to Live by Neighborhoods. | 135 |
| 44. | Parents’ desires for education of their children by neighborhoods. | 137 |
| 45 | Education desired for children related to residence desired for children when grown. | 140 |
| 46. | Types of employment considered undesirable for their children by parents. | 142 |
| 47. | Attitudes toward labor unions. | 144 |
| 48. | Attitudes toward the school consolidation in changes desired in school’s program. | 146 |
| 49. | Attitudes toward hot lunch program and estimates by parents as to educational value of children eating with teachers. | 148 |
| CHARTS | ||
| 1. | Age and sex composition of the population Pine Mountain area 1950. | 923 |
SEE
ROSCOE GIFFIN Visitor-Researcher
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the Pine Mountain School District, Harlan County, Kentucky” Part 1 (001-050)
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the Pine Mountain School District, Harlan County, Kentucky” Part 2 (051-089)
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the Pine Mountain School District, Harlan County, Kentucky” Part 3 (090-129)
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the Pine Mountain School District, Harlan County, Kentucky” Part 4 (130-157)
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1954 Roscoe Giffin The Southern Mountaineer in Cincinnati (Report) – in process)
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1956 Roscoe Giffin From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati 1956 – Reprint of a Mountain Life & Work article – in process
SEE ALSO
Records of the full study are also held in the Berea College Archive
Pine Mountain (Kentucky) Community Study Records
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1954 Roscoe Giffin The Southern Mountaineer in Cincinnati
PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1956 Roscoe Giffin From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati – Reprint of a Mountain Life & Work article – [in process.]
