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Course: 2025-13

Mining and Extraction: Building Skills with the Coal Industry

Faculty:

  • Coordinator and Instructor: Cecelia McFadden, MISM, M.Ed.
  • Other Instructors: Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG, FOGS;  David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FUGA, FIGRS, FNGS;  Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL;  Kate Townsend, CG
  • Archivist: Sierra Green, MLIS (Heinz History Center)

Tuition:

  • Regular Price: $605.00
  • NGS Member Price: $570.00

Note:

This class includes visiting the Heinz History Center and hands-on work in the archives; lectures and instruction will be provided.

Course Description:

This intermediate to advanced curriculum will use the U.S. Coal Industry as a backdrop for hands-on skill building using record sets across the major record and repository types. Skill growth will be achieved through course instruction and record exploration, which will provide a platform for putting learning into practice. A flexible capstone assignment choice on Day 1 will be developed through group discussion, lecture exercises, and fieldwork, which will provide access to primary artifacts and research tools.

Student Prerequisites:

Students should have a basic understanding of major record types in the United States, experience with communicating research findings to an audience, and a course completion certificate from a genealogical institute or equivalent.

Recommendations:

Students should plan to have a laptop during class meeting times for in-class coursework that includes an installed browser that can support Chrome or Firefox. Access to word processing, spreadsheets, and family tree software is a plus.

Day Session Time Session Title Description Instructor
Monday
14 July		 Intro 8:30 – 9 AM Icebreaker and your “Why” Connect with Peers and share your course goals McFadden
1 9 – 10:15 AM The Coal Industry – History, Records, Methods Students will gain an understanding of the rise of the coal industry in the United States and learn about key terminology, personnel, organizations, and locations that shaped the market and the subsequent records available to genealogists. McFadden
2 10:45 – 12 PM Coal Records at the Federal and State Level: A Survey States are required to complete the “annual Report on Mining Activities” to examine and ensure the mine and mine safety. Students will learn how to cull and retrieve state and federal records from the National Archives and beyond, with an emphasis on the dormant record group 70, the United States Mines Bureau. Lauritzen
3 1:30 – 2:45 PM Dark as A Dungeon – The Appalachian Coal Mines As the song goes, it truly was “dark as a dungeon” in just about any mine. Different types of coal and mining techniques will be illustrated, along with the progression of industry technology. The hard work of mining generated records, starting with children and ending with adults and communities. These records provide context to ancestor life. Lauritzen
4 3:15 – 4:30 PM Analysis & Correlation: A Case Study on a Missing Family in the Census One of the elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard is analyzing your information and documentation and correlating it with other known facts. This advanced class will present a case study that was used in a lineage application. Using correlation, a new family story emerges full of intrigue and legal impact on the mining industry. Lauritzen
Extra 4:30 – 5 PM Enhancement Session Discussion of Homework/Studies McFadden
Tuesday
15 July		 5 9 – 10:15 AM Introduction to Coal Mine Immigration Records Labor for coal mining was not always indigenous. Students will learn about the migration patterns established to staff the mining industry and the records that capture the relocation of laborers from other parts of the globe, which provided the basis for industry growth and prosperity. Townsend
6 10:45 – 12 PM Irish Miners Across America – An Overview The United States is a land mass rife with natural resources. The need for miner labor loomed large, and ethnic groups domestically and internationally sought out these opportunities. The Irish were drawn to these jobs. Learn how to find them. Rencher
7 1:30 – 2:45 PM The African American Coal Miner The coal mining heritage of African Americans is extensive, but records are less than prolific. Learn about this space and how to find essential records to document the African American coal industry experience. McFadden
8 3:15 – 4:30 PM From the Boot to Soot – A Lecture on the Italian American Miner The immigration patterns of Italian Americans in the United States were not always rooted in eastern seaboard urban centers. This lecture will present case studies on the immigration patterns of US Citizens of Italian descent that influenced industry expansion and trends. Townsend
Extra 4:30 – 5 PM Enhancement Session Discussion of Homework/Studies McFadden
Wednesday
16 July		 9 9 – 10:15 AM Heinz Archives – Coal Mining The class will travel to Heinze History Center and have a lecture experience before starting hands-on activities related to industry record access. Understanding how to locate regional repositories related to the industry is key to research success. This lecture will preview HHC but focus on other regional assets that can lead to ancestral discoveries. Green
Day at Heinz History Center and Archives 10 10:45 – 12 PM The Dangerous Underground – Coal Mining Disasters and Associated Records Federal Records related to the investigation of coal mining disasters take researchers beyond the records of the US Bureau of Mines. This lecture will discuss mining disasters, their associated investigations, and the unique records that can be found related to each incident. McFadden
11 1:30 – 2:45 PM How to Organize Your Preliminary Research Findings (Recording) This lecture will focus on consolidating online and offline finds, leveraging methods and skills in the areas of proof standards, ensuring correctness, approach validation, keeping track of related work, goal creation, progress tracking, and citation/annotation. Townsend
12 3:15 – 4:30 PM Disasters and Disease Coal mining disasters left families devastated and often without income and a patriarch. Death records are our first clue as to when and how an ancestor died. This lecture will explore the linkage between newspaper disaster accounts, death records and other sources of genealogical value when researching industry disaster events. Lauritzen
Thursday
17 July		 13 9 – 10:15 AM Neighborhood Reconstruction – Using Maps to Build Mining Communities Mining communities were often created based on the discovery of a coal seam in a region, and the migration patterns of the coal laborer. Once the seam was exhausted, the communities died. In this lecture, cartography and migration flows will be leveraged to demonstrate how researchers can reconstruct and reimagine a mining community in its prime along with the context and influence a locale may have on the family history of the region. Townsend
14 10:45 – 12 PM Coal Records and the Law – Mining the Legal Landscape The depth and breadth of the coal industry required legislation at the local, county, state, national, and international levels. Students will learn the nuances of the body of legislation and its impact on records retrieval and availability. Russell
15 1:30 – 2:45 PM Coal Case Law – Methods and Sources Online and Offline Litigation in the coal industry can be a rich source of genealogical information at the organizational and individual levels. Learn how to conduct effective search strategies in this space that provide a foundation for research questions and beyond. Russell
16 3:15 – 4:30 PM Charting Out the Company Town: The Genealogy of Coal Industry Communities The intersection of genealogy records and coal company towns is a nexus that has rich information for direct and indirect descendants of the geography and families that lived in the community. This presentation will demonstrate how standalone genealogy records about a region can be collated to tell the story of historical industry communities, Townsend
Extra 4:30 – 5 PM Enhancement Session Discussion of Homework/Studies McFadden
Friday
18 July		 17 9 – 10:15 AM On the Picket Line – Ethnic Identity, Union and Strike Investigations Strikes were an integral component of the domestic coal mining industry. Disparate treatment by mine owners led to union formations and government investigations when strikes took place. Learn about the records generated by such events and their genealogical significance. McFadden
18 10:45 – 12 PM Special Collections and Reports – Methods and Summary This “Putting it all together” session will draw upon the week’s experience and describe the next steps to integrate findings with additional discovery steps in this advanced set of records. Methods and skills will be discussed on how to move forward once back home. McFadden

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