Harry S. Berry

UT Trustee Harry S. Berry served as the State of Tennessee WPA administrator and assisted UT in gaining funds for labor to execute a number of WPA projects.

In the 1950s he strongly opposed the construction of UT Memorial Hospital and Research Center because he viewed the hospital as a place for local indigent care and as a first step toward obtaining a medical school in Knoxville, which he opposed. Berry filed an injunction, which temporarily stalled issuance of bonds for the project by the state. At the February 13, 1953, meeting of the board of trustees, he offered a resolution to petition the legislature to relieve the University of Tennessee of all responsibility in connection with the administration and operation of the Atomic Research Center and Hospital, and then he amended his motion to include only the hospital. The petition was forwarded to the legislature but was never acted upon.

Emboldened by the success of his effort to have the petition forwarded, he moved that President Brehm either remove himself from the building committee or from the office of university president. That motion failed for want of a second.

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  • Title Harry S. Berry
  • Author
  • Keywords Harry S. Berry
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
  • URL
  • Access Date July 18, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 3, 2018