Eckley Miners' Village [PA]

Description

Eckley is one of the hundreds of company mining towns or "patches" built in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania during the 19th century. In 1854, the mining firm of Sharpe, Leisenring, and Company, later known as Sharpe, Weiss, and Company, leased land from the Tench Coxe Estate of Philadelphia and began work on the Council Ridge Colliery and the village of Eckley. The village, built near the colliery where the coal was mined and processed, provided housing for the miners and their families. Its stores, schools, and churches supplied the economic, educational, and religious needs of the villagers. By owning the village, the company had greater control over the lives of their workers.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World

Image
Photo, Doffers at the Bibb Mill No. 1, Lewis Hine, 1909, Like a Family.
Annotation

The companion to a book of the same name, this website offers selected oral history resources that examine lives in southern textile mill towns from the 1880s to the 1930s. The site is divided into three sections. "Life on the Land" discusses agricultural roots of the rural south, changes in farm labor after the Civil War, and economic factors that caused the transition to mill work in the late 19th century. "Mill Village and Factory" describes work in the mills and life in the company mill towns. "Work and Protest" discusses labor protests of the 1920s, formation of unions, and the textile strike of 1934.

The site contains 15 photographs and nearly 70 audio clips drawn from oral history interviews with descendants of millhands and others involved in the history of the Southern textile industry. There are valuable links to Southern history, oral history, and textile mill history websites. This site is ideal for studying rural southern life and labor history from Reconstruction through the 1930s.

Plantation Agriculture Museum [AR] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:37
Description

This museum interprets cotton agriculture in Arkansas from statehood in 1836 through World War II, when agricultural practices quickly became mechanized. Visitors can tour the restored 1920s cotton gin and see how cotton was grown, picked, and processed.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources

Description

Exhibits and programs tell of the industrial and social history surrounding the 'black gold rush' of Arkansas's oil fields. Visitors walk the rutted streets of a 1920s oil boom town, then go on a journey inside the earth to see formation of the oil strata. In the museum's Oil Field Park, see full-size operating equipment used from the 1920s to the modern era, including a 1920s standard oil rig and a 112-foot wooden derrick.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Missouri Mines State Historic Site Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:34
Description

St. Joseph Lead Co. dominated ore production and became the heart of the easter Ozarks' Old Lead Belt, continuing operations in this district until 1972. In 1975, the company donated the 25 buildings of their largest mine-mill complex and the surrounding land to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. These properties became Missouri Mines State Historic Site and St. Joe State Park. The 19,000 square-foot mine-mill powerhouse has been developed into a large museum that interprets Missouri's mining history and displays old mining machinery and an outstanding mineral collection.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Boone's Lick State Historic Site [MO]

Description

In 1804, Lewis and Clark reported the presence of many saltwater springs in the area that now comprises Howard, Cooper, and Saline counties. The largest of these salt springs was the Boone's Lick. The area around this spring was ideal for settlement and for many years "Boone's Lick Country" was a primary destination for pioneers moving west. Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of famous frontiersman Daniel Boone, formed a partnership with James and Jesse Morrison in 1805 to produce salt. Brine water was poured into iron kettles and heated to boiling on a stone furnace. As the water evaporated, salt crystallized in the bottom of the kettle. The salt was shipped by keelboat on the Missouri River to St. Louis. Salt, which was indispensable at the time for preserving meat and tanning hides, was produced at the site until approximately 1833. Today, the 52-acre site features picnic facilities and a short trail that winds its way to the spring site, where wood remnants of the salt works and an iron kettle are still visible. Outdoor exhibits interpret this unique saltwater environment and center of frontier industry. Artifacts from the salt manufacturing industry were excavated at the site, and some are on display at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site visitor center in Arrow Rock.

The site offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Description

Hot, smoky, noisy—these words describe how Hopewell Furnace looked from 1771 to 1883. Hopewell and other "iron plantations" laid the foundations for America's iron and steel industry. Today, the site stands as an example of America's development during the Industrial Revolution.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

State Capital Publishing Museum [OK]

Description

The Museum is located in the historic State Capital Publishing Company building constructed in 1902. This building was the fourth home of the State Capital Company which was organized in 1889 just prior to the first Oklahoma Land Run. Inside the museum is a large collection of original furnishings and printing equipment. Museum exhibits include the history of the State Capital Company, printing technology and other aspects of life from the territorial and early statehood era.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, workshops, and educational and recreational programs.

Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor [OH]

Description

The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor provides a dramatic overview of the impact of the iron and steel industry on Youngstown and other Mahoning Valley communities. The building, designed by renowned architect Michael Graves in 1986, houses the museum's permanent exhibit, "By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley," which explores labor, immigration, and urban history, using videos, artifacts, photographs, and reconstructed scenes. Objects on display range from workers' tools and clothing to "last heats," the last batches of steel produced at each of the mills before they closed. Hundreds of photographs, some more than 30 feet long, are used throughout the museum. Videos examine topics such as housing, recreation, and urban history. Life-size scenes—including a mill's locker room, part of a company-built house, and a blooming mill, where steel ingots were shaped for further processing—help visitors understand steelmaking and the lives of steelworkers.

The center offers exhibits, tours, research library access, and educational programs.