Photographs taken on Memorial Day 1907 in Williamstown, Pennsylvania show a community commemorating its war dead.
“The sweet strains of music were heard” – Memorial Day in Williamstown
When the Klan came to Williams Valley – 1924
A recent visit to a cemetery in Schuylkill County inspired an examination of a dark chapter of local history.
A young sailor from Lykens wrote home to describe his first action in the Spanish-American War
Clarence Holland was 16 when he first experienced battle during the bombardment of San Juan in May 1898.
“Incidents of a by-gone age” – A description of life in the Coal Region before the Civil War
Catherine Romberger Myers was born in Porter Township in 1840. She spoke to a reporter in 1931 about growing up in pre-industrial Williams Valley.
“Baseball fever” – Williams Valley’s 1906 season featured pro players, violent fans
In 1906, a small valley in Pennsylvania's Coal Region caught a case of baseball fever. The towns were never the same again.
After the First World War, miners in Williams Valley faced an uncertain future
A newspaper correspondent details life in Lykens and Wiconisco in the months after the end of the Great War.
“Stick to the Union” – Factory girls supported union miners during Coal Strike of 1902
Coal miners across Pennsylvania went on strike in 1902. They couldn't have succeeded without the ladies.
Williamstown sailor recounts surviving a German U-boat attack, two weeks in a lifeboat in 1943
Jim Shurskis told the dramatic story of surviving his ship's sinking to students from Williamstown High School.
Spanish Flu wreaked havoc in Tower City in October 1918, killed more than 110 people in three weeks
In the communities of western Schuylkill County, influenza caused terror and grief as it claimed dozens of lives in 1918.
“This community sustains a great loss” – A fatal mine disaster in Wiconisco Township during the Civil War
On February 7, 1862, a roof collapsed inside the Short Mountain Colliery killing a respected miner and wounding several others.
