Coal and coal mining have long provided an image of Appalachia to the world -- a rich mixture of mineral and human resources, exploitation and economic benefits, pollution and reclamation, violence and contentment, decline and renewal -- all blended into a story rich and complex. Materials for the research of this image -- stereotypes and reality -- may be abundantly "mined" in the Archives of Appalachia.

Browse our Suggested Reading List for books of interest.

Manuscripts

Barnicle-Cadle Collection
Includes audio recordings of coal mining and labor union songs.

Broadside Television Collection
Videotape recordings include reminiscences of union struggles in the eastern Kentucky coalfields in the 1930s, modern coal mining, strip mining (including in Germany), labor unions, the Brookside (Ky.) strike, the Hyden mine disaster, mining music, and a miner's protest in Washington, D. C. in the 1970s.

Burton-Manning Collection
Includes audio recordings of coal mining and labor union songs.

Bernard H. Cantor Collection
Includes papers related to Cantor's work as a labor lawyer as well as an arbitrator between the United Mine Workers of America and the Bituminous Coal Operators' Association.

Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Railway Records
Includes materials related to the railroad's hauling of coal and relations with the coal industry.

Brian Chisom Papers
Contains a research paper related to strip-mining in Appalachia.

Coal Employment Project Records
Extensive records related to women employed in the coal mining industry (1977-91) include such topics as mine safety, health issues, sexual discrimination and harassment, the Pittston Coal Company strike (1989-90), and the training of women miners.

Congress for Appalachian Development/Gordon Ebersole Collection
Materials relate to such topics as Appalachian economic development, coal and coal mining, absentee land ownership, land use, strip mining and the reclamation of mined areas, miner protests, coal power, the coal tax issue, pollution, and coal company profits and taxes.

Council on Appalachian Women Collection
Includes, among many topics related to life in Appalachia for women, material on coal mining and mine safety and health issues.

James T. Dowdy, Sr. Photographs
Collection of railroad photographs includes scenes of coal hauling.

East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad Collection
Includes material related to the development of the Cranberry Iron and Coal Co. as well as information regarding coal shipments by rail.

Charles Gunter, Jr. Collection
Includes audio recorded interviews discussing coal mining (modern and historically), strip mining, reclamation of land, the miner's life, mining accidents and safety, mining on the Cumberland Plateau, in southwest Virginia, and in West Virginia, and unions.

Paul J. Kaufman Collection
Contains statements given before Congress and the Federal Power Commission regarding regarding coal mining, Appalachian economic conditions, and the Congress for Appalachian Development versus Appalachian Power Company.

Carl B. Knight Papers
Consists primarily of correspondence, reports, etc. related to Knight's work as a director of the Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Railway (1972-83), some of which concerns to the topics of coal mining and coal gasification, especially a plant at Dungannon, Va.

Marat Moore Collection
Consists of audio recordings and transcriptions of interviews Moore conducted with women coal miners (1980-86) as well as some photographs of women miners.

Kenneth M. Murray Photographs
Includes photographs of coal mining, company towns, coke ovens, strikes, and strip mining in the Appalachian region.

Pittston Coal Company Strike
Consists of videotape footage of strike activities in southwest Virginia in 1989 taken by WKPT-TV, Kingsport, Tenn.

Jeanne M. Rasmussen Collection
Includes photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, and miscellaneous printed matter related to coal mining and miners, coal camps and coal communities, mine health and safety, black lung disease strikes, strip mining, the Buffalo Creek, W. Va. flood, the United Mine Workers of America, and Joseph A. Yablonski.

Cecil Rose Collection
Includes writings, clippings, and photographs on various Appalachian topics, including coal and coal mining, strikes, and the "Matewan Massacre".

June M. Rostan Papers
Includes correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, etc. related to Rostan's work with the Coal Employment Project, with women coal miners, and union organizing.

Suggested Reading from Special Collections

The following is a list of selected titles relating to coal mining. For a complete listing, please consult Sherrod Library Online Catalog.

Caudill, Harry M. Theirs Be the Power: the moguls of eastern Kentucky. 1983.

Densmore, Raymond E. The Coal Miner of Appalachia. 1977.

Dix, Keith. What's A Coal Miner to Do?: the mechanization of coal mining. 1988.

Ewen, Lynda Ann. Which Side Are You On?: the Brookside Mine Strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, 1973-1974. 1979.

Finley, Joseph E. The Corrupt Kingdom: the rise and fall of the United Mine Workers. 1972.

Levy, Builder. Images of Appalachian Coalfields. 1989.

Parkinson, George. Guide to Coal Mining Collections in the United States. 1978.

Prescott, E. J. The Story of the Virginia Coal and Iron Company, 1882-1945. 1946.

Shifflett, Crandall A. Coal Towns: life, work, and culture in company towns of southern Appalachia, 1880-1960. 1991.

Educational Media

Come All Ye Coal Miners, a 30-minute videotape, examines coal mining in the southern Appalachian region and is available for loan from the Archives.