Historical Transcribed Ledger

Bright Hope Furnace Ledger

Katharine SUSONG Harmon, a Greene County resident and a descendant of many

named in the Bright Hope Furnace Ledger, lived near Timber Ridge Church and

the Bright Hope area. She had taught school at one time in the one-room

Bright Hope School which no longer exists. She provided a typed copy of a few

pages of the Bright Hope Iron Works company store ledger to me, a descendant

of many named in the ledger, in October of 1988.

In April of 1989, Katherine Harmon, offered to show me the original Ledger

stored in the Library of Tusculum College. She introduced me to Mr Wayne

Dobson, then Archivist, Rare Books Collection, Tusculum College. Mr Dobson

permitted us to view the Ledger and to copy additional entries.

Several "cousins", including Marjorie EWART Boles (Washington), Robert and

Louise DARBY Boles and Duane and Rosemary BOLES Harvey (Kansas), William

James Kibler (Ohio), and Louise Holland and Katherine SUSONG Harmon (Greene

County) and I visited the Library at Tusculum College in March of 1991 to

view the Ledger.

One objective of our visit was to arrange for the micro-filming and the

transcription of the Ledger. To our surprise and relief, the Ledger had been

micro-filmed by the McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library

System, Knoxville, Tennessee. The product was of high quality and the task of

transcribing the entire document from the micro-film was then possible.

Mr Wayne Dobson granted me permission to purchase a copy of the microfilm

from the Knox County Public Library to use for transcription purposes.

The Transcription required about six hours work per day for three months. It

was completed in the Spring of 1992 and a draft copy and computer disk copy

were provided to Tusculum College. A computer disk copy of the transcription

was provided to the Knox County Public Library in May of 1995.

Transcribed pages containing entries naming future President Andrew Johnson

were presented to the Andrew Johnson National Monument in Greeneville, Tennessee.

The Bright Hope Ledger is housed in the Tusculum College Arvhives in the

President Johnson Museum Library, Tusculum College, Greeneville, Tennessee.

The Museum is open Monday-Friday 8am to 5pm

Researchers wishing to view the Ledger should contact Cindy Lucas for

an appointment. She may be reached at 423-636-7348 0r 800-729-0256 ext.348

or e-mail, clucas@tusculum.edu