The Clark Collection.

Business and personal papers, photographs, documents of John Monroe Clark (1868-1950) of Blount County, Tennessee and the allied families of Cates, Brabson, Foute and Pinkerton. John Monroe Clark was a successful banker, civic leader, businessman, and an active participant in the movement to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He was instrumental in preserving and maintaining Clark’s Grove Cemetery and operated a large farm in Blount County. Other important individuals in the collection include Benjamin Davis Brabson, Dr. John W. Cates, Reuben Cates, Dr. Benjamin B. Cates, Johnnie Berry Cates Foute, Jessie Cates Clark, Dr. E. J. Foute, Dr, William T. Foute, Frances E. Pinkerton Foute, and Ben C. Clark, the son of John M.. Clark., Benjamin C. Clark owned and operated Tallequah Farms on the Little Tennessee River from 1931-1968 when the land was taken for Tellico Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority. There is considerable information on farming, medicine, and ferries, since the Foute and Clark families owned the McGhee/Niles property on the Little Tennessee River and operated Niles Ferry for a time. The medical doctors in the family practiced in Blount , Knox, Loudon, and Monroe counties through the last half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Recorded oral histories made with the donor have enhanced the documentation and historic value of the papers and artifacts in the Clark Collection.