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What We Do
Our Collection On
Display The
Connellsville Coke Region
Our Dream
Help
Us Grow We
Are Penn State - The Eberly Campus |
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What We Do
The Coal & Coke  Heritage
Center captures and preserves the history
and heritage of the Connellsville Coke Region in the roughly
hundred year span of 1870-1970.
We
focus on . . .
the
coal and coke industries, the captains
of industry whose vision, determination, tactics and resources
were responsible for the emergence of industrial behemoths
and the amassing vast fortunes, and the common workers and
their families, and their lives within the environment created
by the coal and coke industries.
We make our resources accessible to researchers, to the educational
and business communities, and to the community at large.
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Our Collection
We serve as an archive for
- A variety of mining and coking artifacts, photographs,
maps, blueprints, documents and newspapers;
- A special library collection of coal mining literature,
manuscripts, essays, poetry and journal articles;
- An array of music, videos and slide presentations;
- More then 625 hours of taped interviews with people from
the coal and coke era;
- An art collection featuring regional artists depiction's
of life experiences, places and events;
- Music, video, and slide presentations.
In addition, we offer the university courses:
- American Studies 50: The Literature and Lore of
Mining
- American Studies 402W: The Era of the Connellsville
Coke Region
We are offer lectures, tours and a speakers bureau.
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On Display
The Center is able to place on display only a fraction
of the total collection at any given time.
Among the items you'll find on display are
- Artifacts from industry such as tools, clothing, safety equipment,
and other devices;
- Artifacts from everyday living like a coal stove of the period,
cooking utensils, apparel, even children's toys and games.
- Many period photographs
- An art collection featuring regional artists depiction's of
life experiences, places and events;
- Maps, blueprints, and technical documents;
- Models used to illustrate industrial workings
Visit our online Exhibit
Area for a sampling of what you'll discover at the Center.
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The Connellsville Coke Region
Tucked along the base of Chestnut Ridge of the Allegheny mountains
in southwestern Pennsylvania is the Connellsville Coke Region, famous
for its abundant, high quality bituminous coal and the coal and
coke industries that resulted. Geographically, it is a long narrow
strip of land averaging three and a half miles wide and nearly 40
miles long running from Latrobe in Westmoreland County to the area
around Smithfield in Fayette County.
The heyday of the region spanned roughly the century
from 1870 to 1970. During this period of phenomenal industrial growth
in the US, the Connellsville Coke Region fueled the blast furnaces
of the steel industry in nearby Pittsburgh.
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Our Dream
The founders of the Patch/Work Voices Project hope
to one day see the collection housed in a true museum environment.
We hope to be recognized as a Coal and Coke Resource Center and
as an oral history collection with state and national recognition.
We are exploring the possibility of expanding the Fayette Campus
Library to further enhance the value of the Center.
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Help Us Grow
Our project inventory is continually growing and evolving.
We are constantly seeking people with knowledge of the history,
development and management of the industries as well as of mining
coal, burning coke or patch (coal community) life to share their
experiences with us.
We are also always on the lookout for new artifacts that will help
document the coal and coke era. Every new interview adds another
dimension to the story.
If you or a family member or acquaintance would like to contribute
materials, lend items for exhibit, or add your voice to the oral
history collection, please contact us at 724.430.4158, or email
us at pxs47@psu.edu or ehd103@psu.edu
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Penn State University's Fayette Campus, located in the heart of
the Connellsville Coke Region near Uniontown, is the home of the
Coal and Coke Heritage Center.
Started in 1977 as the Patch/Work Voices Project as a collaborative
effort to preserve the region's history, faculty members Drs. Dennis
Brestensky, Evelyn A. Hovanec, Albert N. Skomra, and Mrs. Bobby
Salitrik have co-directed the project which has ultimately evolved
into the Coal and Coke Heritage Center.
Located on the ground floor of the campus library, the Center's
exhibit area is open to the public free of charge. The Center also
serves as a resource center for lectures, presentations, workshops.
We gladly offer tours for groups of any age including educational
programs for schools and community groups.
The Center's curator is Pamela Seighman.
Coal
& Coke Heritage Center
Penn State Fayette
PO Box 519
Uniontown, PA 15401
724.430.4158
724.430.4152 FAX
pxs47@psu.edu
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