anthracite coal

Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About

January 23, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Today the state of Minnesota is engaged in the first General Strike in nearly 80 years. There have been thousands of strikes in American history, but only about a dozen General Strikes. One of the first strikes took place in the city of New York in 1677. Afterward a dozen cart-men (one-horse cart operators) were criminally prosecuted “for not obeying the Command and Doing their Dutyes as becomes them in their Places” and fined.

About 80 strikes in the U.S. have involved over 100,000 workers. Here are 13 strikes every New Yorker should know about: [Read more…] about Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About

Navigating the Port of Albany in 1941

July 13, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The following description is from 1941.

The Port of Albany is situated in the eastern part of New York State about six miles below the head of tidewater on the Hudson River and about 143 miles north of the Battery New York City. The port district as legally established embraces the city of Albany and the lands belonging to the city of Albany within the town of Bethlehem, the city of Rensselaer, and all lands and waters in the Hudson River contiguous thereto.

The district is an important rail center from which railroad lines radiate in all directions. It is only a short distance approximately six miles south of the eastern and southern termini of the Erie and Champlain branches of the New York State Barge Canal system. [Read more…] about Navigating the Port of Albany in 1941

Hudson River Brick Making: Two Kingston Brick Yards, 1905

April 30, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The following essay is excerpted from Charles Ellery Hall’s The Story of Brick (Building Trades and Employers’ Association Bulletin, July, 1905).

The brick which bears the highly popular brand, “Shultz,” is the product of the Shultz yards at East Kingston, near Rondout, NY. Henry H. Shultz, the present manager of the concern for the Shultz estate, represents the third generation of a family which has been in the brick making business since the earlier half of the last century. [Read more…] about Hudson River Brick Making: Two Kingston Brick Yards, 1905

An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

November 6, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The following letter, “A Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal To Carbondale,” appeared in the Register of Pennsylvania on August 14, 1830 and was written in the city of New York on August 2, 1830. This letter was discovered and transcribed by George A. Thompson, a volunteer scholar at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, and slightly edited and annotated by John Warren.

Mr. Croswell – I perceive by the paper, that a packet boat commences this day, to run regularly for the remainder of the season, on the Delaware and Hudson canal. Among the pleasant and healthy tours that are now sought after, I would strongly recommend a trip on that canal. [Read more…] about An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

October 10, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In the novel Black Veins, Green Blood (Synthesis Group, 2022) by Gene McTiernan, Patrick O’Neil begins work as a breaker boy at the Hampton colliery in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1893.

He is the son of an Irish immigrant known simply as “The O’Neil.” He expects to follow in his father’s footsteps to become an independent miner. As he moves through the various colliery jobs, his path seems certain. [Read more…] about Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

A New Book on Historic Kingston

December 30, 2022 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on The Historians Podcast, Stephen Blauweiss is co-author with Karen Berelowitz of the book The Story of Historic Kingston: Featuring 950 Images and Connections to the Catskills and New York City (Blauweiss Media, 2022). [Read more…] about A New Book on Historic Kingston

Child Labor on the D&H Canal (Virtual Program)

February 16, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company was one of many 19th-century industrial enterprises that relied on the labor of marginalized peoples – immigrants, people of color, women, and children – to operate.

According to National Park Service, “Life on a canal boat was a ‘family business.’ Wives and children worked 15-to-20-hour days along-side boatmen, eking out a meager existence with ‘the company.’ The D&H Canal affected life throughout the region. New towns and industries (boat builders, glass works, foundries) sprang up along the canal. Previous industries — lumber mills, paper mills, tanneries, stone quarries — prospered with improved transportation. Others, like the Rosendale natural cement industry, took advantage of the proximity of the D & H Canal.” [Read more…] about Child Labor on the D&H Canal (Virtual Program)

How Coal & Canals Ignited American Industry

June 20, 2021 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will host “Geography, Geology, and Genius: How Coal & Canals Ignited the American Industrial Revolution,” a virtual presentation by Martha Capwell Fox of the National Canal Museum on how the geography of rivers and mountains, along with geology that includes anthracite, iron ore, and limestone of northeastern Pennsylvania led several men to the beginnings of heavy industry in the US. [Read more…] about How Coal & Canals Ignited American Industry

Sullivan County D&H Canal History Highlighted With ‘Kate Project’

December 23, 2020 by John Conway Leave a Comment

During the month of December in 1824, brothers William and Maurice Wurts were diligently planning a presentation to potential investors in their ambitious project to build a canal connecting their coal fields in northeastern Pennsylvania to the Hudson River. [Read more…] about Sullivan County D&H Canal History Highlighted With ‘Kate Project’

Great Rivals: Lehigh Navigation and the D&H Canal

August 14, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, the great rival to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, was built a few years before the completion of the D&H and carried a significant amount of anthracite coal to the tide-waters of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.

Power in a Union: The Story of American Labor History

October 15, 2011 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America (Anchor Books, 2011) by Philip Dray is an epic, character-driven narrative that moves between picket lines, union halls, jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the halls of Congress, and the White House.

Dray (NPR Interview) presents an urgency of the fight for fairness and economic democracy for working people — a struggle that remains especially urgent today, when ordinary Americans are so beset by economic troubles. [Read more…] about Power in a Union: The Story of American Labor History

anthracite coal

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