Coal and Oil
Special Collections has a variety of primary source materials documenting the daily operations of the coal and oil industries. Collections include both personal papers and business records ranging from correspondence, scrapbooks, and photographs, to office files, memoranda, and reports.
Miners at work loading sledge, Rossiter, Pennsylvania. Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation records, Historical Collections and Labor Archives, Special Collections Library, University Libraries, The Pennsylvania State University.
- Thomas Richards (T.R.) Johns papers, 1853-1948 (bulk 1919-1940)The collection includes correspondence, clippings, scrapbooks, photo albums, and letterpress books documenting Bethlehem Steel-affiliated mines and labor conditions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
- The T.R. Johns Collection: Beneath the Surface: Life, Work, and Social Structure in the Mining Community of Heilwood, PA [digital]This digital collection of photographs focuses on the mining community of Heilwood, Pennsylvania.
- Hudson Coal Company Records, 1871-1954 [microfilm]The collection consists of office files generated by the Hudson Coal Company of Pennsylvania for anthracite coal mines located in Lackawana and Luzerne Counties, and payroll records for mines located in Luzerne County.
- Michael J. Kosik Anthracite Mineworkers Collection, 1863-1916The collection contains official and manuscript records of strikes and organizations in eastern Pennsylvania collected by labor leader Michael Kosik. The materials include photographs, clippings, and a records book from mine workers organizations.
- Carl Axel Peterson papers, 1866-1972The collection documents Peterson's work at Hudson Coal Company, Northwestern Mining & Exchange Company, and mining associations to promote worker safety, combat black lung disease, and increase efficiency.
- Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation land tract records and property maps, circa 1885-2009The collection contains mining maps (including digitized oversize hardback maps), CD/DVDs, photographic prints of and land tract records from company towns.
- John P. Herrick Oil History Collection, 1791-1963 (bulk 1930-1949)The collection consists of research materials on oil and gas production, refining, pipelines, transportation, and biographies.