Fifty-nine thousand pounds of the late Senator Estes Kefauver’s papers and mementos arrived in Knoxville in 1963 to be sorted, processed, and preserved in the Special Collections department of the UT Libraries. The gift was made by Kefauver’s widow, Nancy, through the Kefauver Memorial Foundation, and included papers; photographs; the mounted head of a 10-point buck dropped by Kefauver with one shot while on an early morning hunting trip with then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson in 1955; the famous coonskin cap; a bound copy of the Gazette of the United States 1789–90; a life-size oil portrait of Kefauver painted in 1952 by Howard Lane; Franklin Roosevelt’s cigarette holder; a huge, knitted American flag; keys to many cities; and many more items.
On June 25, 1966, the two-story addition to the James D. Hoskins Library for special collections, the Kefauver Wing, was dedicated. Architects for the addition were Barber & McMurry. Bookcases lined with glass were to contain Kefauver’s books, along with other items such as his UT diploma. Kefauver’s desk and other office furniture were placed on loan to the university and used to construct an exact replica of the senator’s office. The addition also provided space for collection materials and researchers.
In 2007 library staff reported serious problems with the Kefauver Wing, including large cracks in the walls in the basement storage area and difficulty with the elevator. By 2008 it was apparent that the building had major structural problems. The wing was built as a “lean-to” on a concrete slab, rather than having a basement, in order not to disrupt library operations during construction of the addition. According to then-Executive Director of Facilities Services Mike Sherrell, the concrete slab of the building, not a structural member of the building, was moving due to soil compaction during the drought conditions of the late 1990s. The movement was so severe that the elevator shaft became bent and very large cracks opened in the walls. The wing was condemned in 2008 and demolished in 2018.
The Kefauver Office exhibit was packed and placed in storage in 2008 when the wing was vacated. Over the next several years, the university attempted to find a suitable location for the exhibit but was unsuccessful. In 2019, the furniture was returned to the United States Senate as required by the 1965 loan agreement. The Estes Kefauver archival collection of papers, photographs, and ephemera is housed and available to researchers in the Modern Political Archive, part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives.