Significance

Aside from millennial preoccupations, scholars frequently look to the later years of the nineteenth century for information on changes leading to the industrial era. Late to mechanize totally, coal mining represents a foundation in industrial development scheme. It was so important that most mining efforts were vertically integrated with captive mines as the industrial era unfolded. Nevertheless, in the period when Great Lakes locations were paramount, Ohio coal was important to the industrializing heartland. Taking these trends together, one finds ample possibilities for the academic scholar and the educator.

The academic scholar and his/her students will be amazed at the mining maps (sample images) showing the actual expansion of the face by years for selected mines and with the linked text showing the results of the application of state control through the state inspector's work (sample images). Mine face exploitation also links with the shipment records and the employment records to show the progress of the varying mining types and a comparison of the pick and machine approaches. Also scanned are the time sheets designed to show the progression of mining jobs from pick to machine and back to pick mining. The annual records of the corporation shows the profitability of the coal sales (sample images) and iron manufacturing efforts through the industrializing era.

The expansion of the corporate structure features housing (sample images) and store records (sample images), especially the cash books and store receipts, that exposes material for how social history works. The earliest sketch of the planned mining communities with cost structures and profit margins available allow students of planning to study these early coal field efforts. Housing from five corporations or more combined into a single entity that served 1000 plus workers - the nature of these units, their changing place in the corporate structure, and profits made appear in the records. The store records show not only profit relationships but also material for comparison with established "lifestyle 1890" databases. Individual histories also profiling company officials, ordinary people, and troublemakers round out the social history.

For the history of land and land use the coal company's deed records (sample image), maps, and excerpts from the local government records (sample image) give a comprehensive view of the place of the land and its value in the corporate equation. The acreage or surface versus mineral rights aids in the understanding of the impact of mining on the environment and the environment on mining. The local records on tax assessment combined with the maps illustrate the impact of public policy on the local taxation system.

Taken together, the local government records and the corporate records provide a closer glimpse into the reality of the time period than by either on its own. Those glimpses apply not only to the researcher but as well to the educator-user. The more specific examples will be presented below. The collection with its profiles of the coal camp way of life and experience will serve a number of places in the K-12 curriculum.

In the Social Studies: Ohio Competency-Based Program (1994), Ohio designed performance based standards in their social science curriculum, and this proposal fits well into the model curriculum. Although most like the US studies module for the 9th or 10th grader, the collection would fulfill the objectives of people in societies and decision making and resources at several levels. For second grade, the instructional objectives include "inquire into the who, what, where, when and why" of historical events and "list the goods and services that a person, a household, and a community might desire." Fourth graders could benefit from the Web exposure to "identifying various cultural groups" in Ohio and to explaining "the resources needed." Fifth graders and above will benefit from reading unusual (for them) maps specific to the coal industry. This collection with its emphasis on change over time will also aid the student in understanding the changes in population distribution and the association between work and residence and in exploring issues in resource exploration. Seventh graders will be able to use primary source material online in order to aid in the evaluation of various sources. They will also understand the impacts of uneven distribution of resources especially with the boom bust component of this collection. While studying the American Heritage piece in the 8th grade, students may use the available primary source materials and "investigate the relationship between geography and history." Another thread is the impact of state governmental action through its state mine inspection program. Among the many applications for ninth graders are to examine the contributions of cultural groups and individuals, study the transformation from agrarian to industrial economy, and explain the rise of labor organizations 1815-1919. Overall, the map skills, people on society and decision making and resources units for each grade level will be enhanced for all grades by this collection.

Expanding on the state level materials, the curriculum standards proposed by the National Council for the Social Studies not surprisingly include strands very similar to those of the state. At this most general level of recommendation, several themes are appropriate, Thread II, Time, Continuity and Change seeks to have the student reconstruct the past. Thread III, People Places and Environments suggest that students create a spatial view; this collection will enhance the individual's understanding of transportation flows and the development of nodal regions, the formal region of the mining district, and the contrasts between the corporate, public, and individuals designations of the subsections of the minefield. Other threads could employ this collection as well as Thread VII, Production, Distribution, and Consumption with its emphasis on resource allocation and production of resources and Thread VI, Power, Authority and Governance with its institutional framework. The materials would be usable at multiple grade levels.

--Development of the Large Corporation. This business was designed to integrate vertically and horizontally the materials and processes in coal mining and iron manufacturing with the stated purpose of improving market share, increasing efficiency in transport, and controlling labor costs. The large corporation assembled from the contributing individual corporations--an amazing and exaggerated assortment of land, minerals rights, and ancillary buildings and services including houses and stores. The corporation as it developed presents a fine example of learning how-to-be-big-time-capitalists in that perhaps as much as anything the housing and stores were the major profit margin items. The land records and the corporate summary of assets are the main items that accompany newspaper and state regulatory comments on the emerging corporate entity. The individual corporate records are merged into the new firm, the Columbus & Hocking Coal & Iron Company (C&HC&I) (sample images). Photos illustrate some of the early facilities to accompany the other artifacts in this summary.

--The Strike of 1884 came in response to the new policies of the Syndicate, C&HC&I, that sought to reduce salaries and alter working conditions. Because the corporate leadership was based in Columbus the detailed corporate records including letters and telegraphy (sample image) summaries reveals the conditions in the field in this strike and the later strike of 1894. The worker side of this appears in the union records. Conditions of acrimony between labor and management that were created have persisted for generations. Large debt and evictions were recorded in the corporate ledgers. The workers sacrificed to preserve their wage levels and later to accomplish the eight hour day (sample image). Corporate records show the losses in coal production sales during the strike too.

--Mechanization of Minerals Extraction. The pick miner is transformed into an industrial worker with the introduction in the late 1870s of a machine cutting operation. Such a transformation requires more substantial capital investment than the typical 1870-1880 mine in which the major capital investments were railroad and wood; it is not surprising that the machine mining (so called) was concentrated in firms with substantial capital to outlay. Major machine mine activity happened in this area first with the Longstreth mines as important early locations. Job descriptions moved from the general designation "miner," to a more complex classification scheme of "loader," "day man" and "shooter," and these became the basis for specializations and variations in pay. Payroll and union materials show this transformation.

--The United Mine Workers of America came from the combination of several often conflicting union interests. The miner had to feel less an artisan and more a worker with a stake in collective action. Hocking Valley miners played a leading role in unionization efforts that carried over to the meetings that established the UMWA in Columbus, Ohio in 1890. Important leaders came out of this area and era because the corporate organization and the changes in working conditions were impacting the lives of the miners. The union records show the developments leading to the union and its expansion and the movement of dominance out of this area by 1895. (sample images)

--State Policies and Mining. Before the opening of the large mines in Ohio in the 1880s the state had begun to asset state control through mine inspections and a series of other laws designed to protect the miner. The association of the major working maps with the state inspector's comments over time, and in cyberspace, will show the early impact of state control land and other information from the reports. The inspector's comments over the two decades are especially revealing of the part the state played in this industrial development. (sample images)

--Personal Histories. The wealth of detailed information about individuals allows us to create profiles of several individuals that exemplify the workers of the later 1800s. We propose to profile individuals fitting the following categories: "company men" - individuals who would back the corporation in any situation; "trouble-makers" - individuals listed as this in corporate recorder, several have identities in the union movement; "ordinary guys" - salt-of-the-earth type individuals who spent a working life during the boom-bust of this development, including how far they moved to keep working and where they lived over the work life; and "Non-Euro and Immigrant-miners" - some miners varied from the majority by race or ethnic background, several members of this group will be profiled too.

--The Other People. Most of the people did not appear in the payroll listings; the women and children living in the company town will be shown in the fragments available playing sports and going to school; their experiences during the strikes when the pantry contents (based on store records) have first, no oranges, and then no food. The women and their existence will be profiled from corporate records, the census, and newspapers. (sample images)

--Jobs, A Lost Town. The birds eye view of Jobs plus other period photos are all that remains of the town that boomed around the two Morris Mines. The mine inspector touted the mines for their quality management and steel hoppers, but one wonders what happened to the houses on Main and Dog Streets of Jobs, Ohio. The small study will use the census and school pictures and try to discover more about this lost town. (sample images)