Girls in the Coal Region’s factories – Child labor beyond the mines

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Shamokin knitting mill around the turn of the 20th century

While boys worked in the dust of coal breakers, young girls - some as young as ten - labored in knitting mills for meager pay to keep their households afloat. A 1903 McClure’s report exposes how this hidden workforce faced brutal hours and hazardous conditions, fueling broader calls for reform. Read the full story.

“The old story” – A short editorial on opposition to vaccines and its consequences… from Pottsville in 1903

Posted on by Jake Wynn

Amid a smallpox epidemic in Schuylkill County, a newspaper editor threw up their hands at those who refused to be vaccinated, despite very real danger.