Discover a scathing 1864 Harrisburg, PA editor’s plea against Thanksgiving gluttony plus a funny Harper’s Weekly cartoon highlighting a Thanksgiving feast at the front lines. Read the full story.
Winslow Homer’s 1860 Harper’s Weekly illustration reveals a stark Thanksgiving class divide - opulent elites relaxing contrasted with coal miners and their families toiling through the holiday. Discover this powerful social critique and how it relates to Pennsylvania’s anthracite fields on the eve of the Civil War. Read the full story.
In 1910, artist Joseph Pennell sketched a dark, foreboding view of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, capturing the stark industrial landscape dominated by coal breakers and immigrant communities. His illustration, now in the Library of Congress, reflects the hidden world of America’s coal towns, largely unseen by the broader public. Read the full story.
It appears to show a Pennsylvania horse soldier among the coal-rich mountains and valleys of Schuylkill County.
James Fuller Queen sketched Shamokin at a key moment in the history of the Northumberland County community.
James Fuller Queen sketched a scene of the Carbon County mining and shipping hub on the Lehigh River before the Civil War.
An artist's rendition shows the Pennsylvania state capital as it looked in the late-19th century.
A Harper's Weekly artist documented work in an anthracite mine in Pennsylvania in 1869.