Coal mining and the culture that formed around it left an indelible imprint on the industrial heritage of Western Pennsylvania. Miners, coal companies, and unions forge the unique character of Pennsylvania Coal Culture in this region.
The following resources document the lives of Western Pennsylvania coal miners and their families in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Special thanks goes to Eileen Mountjoy for her thorough essays on Pennsylvania Coal Culture, for the donation of the MG 94: The Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company Media Collection, and for her book Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company: The First One Hundred Years.
Resources
Pennsylvania Coal Culture
Funded by a Library Services and Technology Grant in 2006, Pennsylvania Coal Culture includes resources for researchers, students, and teachers, including:
- Background essays and websites
- Primary source images
- Lesson plans
- Coal Culture Timeline
- Coal Culture Bibliography
We gratefully acknowledge the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the grant funding, as well as the tireless work of the project director, historical consultants and authors, the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County, and those who generously provided materials from their private collections to support this grant.
Coal Culture at the University Museum
In fall 2009, the University Museum presented A Walk Through Time: Pennsylvania Coal Culture, co-curated by Harrison Wick and Rhonda Yeager. The exhibit documented bituminous coal mining and living in company towns in western Pennsylvania.
The University Museum exhibit catalog features many essays, photographs, and oral history interviews about western Pennsylvania coal culture.
Additional Resources
Pennsylvania Coal Culture Resources provides additional articles, oral history interviews, websites, and other resources about coal mining.
Collections
The following manuscript groups, held in IUP Special Collections and University Archives, document coal mining history in western Pennsylvania from the perspective of the coal miner, company, and union.
- MG 5: George Swetnam Collection
- MG 15: Clarence Stephenson Collection
- MG 18: John P. Saylor Congressional Collection
- MG 40: John Brophy Collection
- MG 42: Records of the Central Pennsylvania Coal Producers' Association
- MG 51: Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company Records
- MG 52: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 2
- MG 53: John Ghizzoni Papers
- MG 55: Publications of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
- MG 66: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 5
- MG 67: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 3
- MG 68: Pittsburgh Chapter of the Coal Mining Institute of America
- MG 71: Coal Company Payroll Ledgers
- MG 72: Governor John S. Fisher Collection
- MG 74: America's Industrial Heritage Project (HABS/HAER)
- MG 75: Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission Records
- MG 76: Folklife Division Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission
- MG 77: United States Bureau of Mine Publications
- MG 79: United Mine Workers of America Local 617 Barnesboro, Pennsylvania
- MG 81: Barnes and Tucker Coal Company
- MG 83: Penn Run and Russell Coal Company Employment Records
- MG 86: Andrew Surma Collection
- MG 91: Joan Schrock Phillipi Papers
- MG 94: Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company Media
- MG 98: Florence Constantino Collection
- MG 99: William H. Sylvis Collection
- MG 111: L. Blaine Grube Collection
- MG 112: Wilmore Real Estate
- MG 116: Irwin Marcus Collection
- MG 125: United Mine Workers of America District 4
- MG 127: Mildred Beik Collection
- MG 132: Pittsburgh & Shawmut Railroad Company Collection
- MG 139: Chris Reese & Denise Weber Miners Collection
- MG 141: Oscar W. Nestor Collection
- MG 148: Hughes Coal Company
- MG 164: John Busovicki Collection
- MG 169: Theodore Spewock Collection