These 1938 photographs by Sheldon Dick show a landscape destroyed by mining and the efforts of local residents to survive the Great Depression.
Photographs from the 1930s show a ramshackle mining operation on outskirts of Mount Carmel

These 1938 photographs by Sheldon Dick show a landscape destroyed by mining and the efforts of local residents to survive the Great Depression.
In Tracy Campbell's 2020 book, the author uses the examples from the anthracite coal fields to show how our national myths about World War II often miss the mark.
This photograph of Mount Carmel, PA in reveals the physical and economic gloom that hung over the anthracite coal fields during the 1930s.
Sheldon Dick photographed damaged homes in Gilberton, Schuylkill County in 1938.
In November 1938, the Pittston Gazette published an editorial calling for a reconsideration of America's strict immigration policies.
The Lykens Standard voiced support for President Herbert Hoover and called the campaign against him illegitimate.
Photographer Sheldon Dick made a visit to the Coal Region in 1938 to document scenes of life and work in the mining towns of northern Schuylkill County. On an evening during his visit, Dick made a swing by a bar room in Gilberton, Pennsylvania and snapped three photographs that bring the setting to life. The … Continue reading Scenes in a Coal Region bar room – 1938
At midnight on April 7, 1933, whistles blew to celebrate the return of legalized beer in the heart of the Coal Region.
Mining engineer Max Fredericks gave a prediction of a bright future for the anthracite industry the day before the stock market collapsed.
Charles H. King, Jr. eloquently described his childhood in Pottsville in his book, "Fire in my Bones."