Children of Lawson Mayo break up coal for the kitchen range
8/23/1946
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Original Caption: "Children of Lawson Mayo break up coal for the kitchen range. Mullens Smokeless Coal Company, Mullens Mine, Harmco, Wyoming County, West Virginia."
In 1946, noted photographer Russell Lee was hired by the Solid Fuels Administration for War, a Federal agency, to take photographs for a survey of medical, health and housing conditions in coal communities around the country.
Located in remote areas and patrolled by mine company guards during times of labor unrest, coal communities were normally inaccessible to outsiders. But government seizure of the mines from private operators gave Lee an unprecedented view into coal fields from Pennsylvania to Wyoming.
Russell Lee took more than 2,000 photographs of the miners in their homes, workplaces, and communities.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Solid Fuels Administration for War.
National Archives Identifier:
540973Full Citation: 245-MS-1868L; Children of Lawson Mayo break up coal for the kitchen range; 8/23/1946; Photographs of the Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry, 1946–1947; Records of the Solid Fuels Administration for War, Record Group 245; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/children-of-lawson-mayo-break-up-coal, May 9, 2024]