During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a Wilkes-Barre letter writer condemned corporate greed and the brutal suppression of striking workers, calling for solidarity among laborers. Published on August 1, 1877, the plea coincided with a deadly clash in Scranton, where militia fired on strikers, foreshadowing decades of labor struggles in the Coal Region. Read the full story and letter.
The 1913 Cameron Colliery bathhouse in Shamokin, PA. Featured in The Colliery Engineer magazine, this 1912-built facility provided heated tubs and steam heat, modern conveniences like electric lighting, and lockers for 224 miners, with multilingual rule notices—an early example of worker welfare in the anthracite fields. Read the full story
A photograph of Corporal Harry Kimmel appeared in a July 1942 edition of the West Schuylkill Press-Herald of Tremont, PA. Learn more about the World War II soldier from Donaldson, PA. Read the full story.
In July 1864, Union and Confederate troops clashed near Frederick, Maryland, at the Battle of Monocacy. In 2021, I recorded a series of videos at Monocacy National Battlefield highlighting the medical story of the battle in partnership with historians and park rangers for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Watch the videos and learn more of the story.
In 1854, a festive cannon salute in Lykens, Pennsylvania turned tragic on the Fourth of July. One man was killed, another lost an arm, highlighting the hazards of 19th-century holiday revelry. Read the full story.
As the Battle of Gettysburg raged, Harrisburg residents heard the distant thunder of cannon fire, signaling the scale of the conflict to the south. On July 3, 1863, the Harrisburg Evening Telegraph reported intense anxiety in the state capital, as the city braced for news of the battle’s outcome and prepared to receive wounded soldiers in the days ahead. Read the full story.
As news of President Garfield’s shocking 1881 shooting reached the Coal Region, communities in Luzerne County paused in unified grief and anxious curiosity—echoing the sorrow of Lincoln’s assassination. Discover how local papers and citizens reacted to this national crisis and its lingering impact. Read the full story.
In June 1877, Schuylkill County Prison in Pottsville prepared for the largest mass execution in Pennsylvania history, hanging six men accused of being Molly Maguires. Controversial trials, largely based on Pinkerton detective James McParlan’s testimony, left lingering doubts about whether the executions were justice or a crackdown on Irish labor activism. Read the story.
The infamous Battle of the Crater in 1864 began when a mine beneath Confederate earthworks detonated.
The Phoenix Park Colliery in western Schuylkill County experienced one of the worst mining disasters in the region's history on July 23, 1864.