A digital archive allows researchers to view hundreds of photographs taken in the Coal Region in the 19th century.
Explore the George Bretz collection of Coal Region photography
A visit to the former site of Kalmia Colliery – Schuylkill County
A recent visit to the site of Kalmia Colliery in Schuylkill County reveals life in an abandoned patch town.
A New York Times correspondent’s 1874 visit to Wiconisco Township
A dispatch to the New York Times from August 1874 details life and work in the thriving Dauphin County mining community.
Williamstown Tunnel – A closer look at a Pennsylvania coal mine in the 1860s
Williamstown Tunnel began shipping coal from Northern Dauphin County in 1866 and became the most prosperous coal mine in the state.
“Lykens Valley and the Coal Region” – Journalist Predicts Bright Future For Northern Dauphin County in 1833
"None can tell what a busy scene will be presented near these mines."
Coal mines as bomb shelters? – A terrible Cold War idea from the Coal Region
As the Cold War heated up in the winter of 1951, the citizens of Hazleton, Pennsylvania had a radical idea to save themselves from nuclear war.
Anthracite coal and the Civil War fueled the birth of Williamstown in the 1860s
A report from the Summit Branch Railroad Company in 1865 details the growth of a new community at the northern tip of Dauphin County.
“Very Profitable and Productive”- Developing Williams Valley’s Anthracite Mines During the Civil War
Industrialist Henry Thomas worked with infamous Pennsylvania politicians to develop the coal trade in Williams Valley during the Civil War.
“The Coal Trade At This Place Was Never Brisker Than At Present” – Williams Valley in 1865
The Upper Dauphin Register describes the booming coal business in Wiconisco Township and predicts a bright future for its "inexhaustible mines."
Massive explosion near Williamstown smashed buildings, jolted residents awake in November 1900
The accidental explosion in Bear Valley, in Schuylkill County, could be heard as far away as Harrisburg.
