“A lonely job” – A photograph of a child mineworker at work in Pittston, Pennsylvania | 1911

In 1911, activist Lewis Hine found 13-year-old Willie Brieden working as a nipper 500 feet underground in Pittston, PA - alone in the dark, opening heavy doors as gas hissed nearby. Days later, Willie was home sick, coughing from endless hours in the damp mine. A childhood bent to anthracite's demands, captured in one image. Read the full story.

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.

Scenes in a Coal Region bar room – 1938

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