Anthracite is a metamorphosed type of coal that contains a high carbon content and is extremely hard, it burns slowly producing little smoke. This item is a viewbook or fold-out packet of twenty-seven black and white halftone photograph reproductions of various activities at a coal mine, images are connected by accordion folds published by Jones & Evans; Scranton News Company, distributors.

Coal Lands Securities Co. was one of several mining companies owned in large portion by Thomas J. Foster (1843-1936), a publisher. Lackawanna Coal and Lumber Company and Highland Lumber Company were also part of Foster's holdings. The album contains photographs taken during an inspection trip made by a party from the Coal Lands Securities Company to properties in West Virginia owned by the Lackawanna Coal and Lumber Company and the Highland Lumber Company.

This diary's author is not given; however, many details indicate that the writer is likely Thomas R. Robinson (1889-1972), a thirty-two-year-old farmer mainly working as a coal miner, lumberman, and railroad worker. This item is a manuscript handwritten diary. The entries are dated February 20, 1922, through April 9, 1923; these include the weather, who the author worked beside each day, his duties and responsibilities, and other tasks he took upon himself to fulfill. This item will be of significant interest to labor historians wanting a view of daily life from the worker's point of view.

Penn Virginia Corporation was an oil and gas company, incorporated as the Virginia Coal & Iron Company on January 6, 1882. It was one of many firms established by a group of interrelated entrepreneurs headed by John Leisenring (1819-1884), a Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, civil and mining engineer. The name changed to Penn Virigina Corporation in 1967. The records of Penn Virginia Corporation cover the development and operations of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, a large southern Appalachian land company, with some information on its immediate neighbors and local support facilities.

The St. Clair Coal Company was a medium-sized independent anthracite producer located near Saint Clair, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Photographs from St. Clair Coal Company show miners at work, collieries, storage banks, an aerial view of the operation, strip mining, a yard locomotive (probably built by Vulcan Locomotive), and the office.

United Mine Workers of America is a labor union that represents coal miners. It was founded in 1890 and continues to be active. This color transparency of the United Mine Workers of America membership certificate that has various images along the boarders that depict coal miners' handshakes and rites of passage.