Guide to the Benjamin Harrison Hay film of Buck Run mining community, circa 1930-1940

Scope and Contents

Footage documenting coal mine operation and other activities in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania filmed by Mr. Wettereau's uncle, Benjamin Hay. Footage shows local people, school children, mine workers and miners, and a man with a dog (collie) posing for camera or working. Much of the footage shows the daily workings of an anthracite coal mining operation (Schuykill County, Pennsylvania) in both winter and warmer weather.

Shown are steam shovels moving coal, various rail cars that are empty, filled with coal, being filled with coal and carrying miners into and out of tunnel; bull dozer pushing dirt; track workers working on the train tracks; workers laying pipe across trestle over ravine and alongside rail tracks; water running out of a tunnel through a sluiceway; internal shots of large mine building and men picking up their pay at window. Writing on bull dozer and steam shovel reads: Bazley Inc, Pottsville, PA. Also captured is a spirited horse (thoroughbred?) held by a man and being ridden by a man; car being pulled out of snow bank; homes in a town with two young women (one in raccoon coat) playing with two dogs (one is the collie) in snow (older woman with camera photographing them); tree branches and power and telephone lines and poles weighed down with ice (presumably after a winter ice storm).

Legacy keywords: Coal mines and mining ; Heavy machinery ; Railroad ties ; Railroad cars ; Railroad tracks ; Ice ; Land use, Rural ; Village Communities ; Amateur films

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.