Huffaker Family Collection,1929-1959 and undated

INTRODUCTION

Title: Huffaker Family Collection

Collection Number: Kingsport Community Manuscript Collection (KCMC) 75

Physical Description: 2 boxes and 1 oversized folder

Creator: Huffaker Family

Repository: Archives of the City of Kingsport

 

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The Huffaker Family Collection was donated to the Archives of the City of Kingsport by Ruth Huffaker Beard on February 10, 1997.

Access/Restrictions: There are no restrictions on use of this collection for research purposes. The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Processed by: This collection was initially processed by previous archives staff and reprocessed by Kari Roueche in August, 2011.

 

COLLECTION CITATION

This collection should be cited as: Huffaker Family Collection, 1929-1959, and undated. KC Manuscript Collection 75, Archives of the City of Kingsport, Tennessee.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE

John (Jack) Eugene Huffaker was born July 9, 1895 in Knoxville, TN. He married Winifred (Billie) Moyers, born August 8, 1899, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Huffakers came to Kingsport in 1917, the year of the city’s incorporation. Jack operated the Huffaker-Cate Department Store on Broad Street for several years. He then transferred his interests to the grocery business. Eventually, he became the advertising manager of the Kingsport Times, which then expanded into the Kingsport Times-News. Jack was a charter member of the Kingsport Rotary and Lions Clubs.

Winifred Moyers Huffaker was one of the initial organizers of Kingsport’s first Girl Scout Troop and a member of FirstBroadStreetUnitedMethodistChurch and United Methodist Women. Billie and Jack had two daughters: Sarah Huffaker Simpson and Ruth Huffaker Beard. John Eugene Huffaker died at the age of 74 in February of 1970. Winifred Huffaker died in February 1985.

Ruth Beard, born March 14, 1923, was a member of Kingsport’s first Girl Scout Troop and an original member of the Kingsport Symphony Chorus. She died in Kingsport on May 25, 2008. Ruth made this collection available to the archives in 1997.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Huffaker Family Collection is a small collection that includes vital representations of Kingsport’s early history. Photographs depict early downtown Kingsport business, outings of the first Kingsport Girl Scout Troop, the Huffakers’ involvement in civic and church groups, as well as family photos of life in The Fifties neighborhood and the Cement Hill area of town, an area which no longer has housing. Newspaper clippings from the Kingsport Times-News pertinent to the family are included as well as a 1929 cookbook owned by the Huffakers that was printed at the Kingsport Press.

BOX AND FOLDER LIST

 

Box 1

1. Description of Girl Scout Troop #1 outing, cloth Girl Scout insignia, nine photographs of Clouds Ford outing.

2. The International Cookbook, 1929. Printed and bound at Kingsport Press.

3. News clippings from the “Kingsport Commentator” of the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, vol.3, no.6, 1949 and the “Kingsport Times-News,” January 24, 1949.

4. Miscellaneous clippings from the “Kingsport Times-News.” Photograph of Women’s Symphony Committee; Mrs. Bramlet Beard, Mrs. Thomas Mitchell, Mrs. Stokes Shivar.

5. Obituary for Winifred Moyers Huffaker.

6. Photograph of the Broad Street Methodist Church Choir, 1945. Detailed listing of members’ names included.

7. Photograph of Lincoln Elementary School, grade 1, Rm.6, 1958-59.

8. Photographs: 22 miscellaneous, undated images. Includes Kingsport Inn and The Fifties neighborhood.

9. Photographs: 38 miscellaneous, undated images of Huffaker family, Kingsport businesses (including Harris & Graves R.E. and Huffaker-Cate’s Department Store). Images of period vehicles and Cement Hill included.

10. Rotary picture and letter from Joe Worley to J.E. Huffaker, 1953.

11. Shriner’s Fez bag, undated.

Box 2

1. Fez, embroidered “Kerbela.”

Oversized Folder (3 items)

Photograph of Mr. & Mrs. Huffaker; Photograph of Valley of Memphis, Orient of Tennessee, 1921; American flag.