NYT: Grab a Brew While They Face Death

Grab a Brew While They Face Death
Today, the Times introduces us to "Coal," a new series a la "Deadliest Catch," "Ice Road Truckers," etc. on Spike TV. With less Arctic -- it's about coal. Mining. In West Virginia:


It’s an uneasy modern dynamic. The men on these “documentary-reality” shows sacrifice their bodies and risk their lives doing down and dangerous jobs to try to provide a good life for themselves and their families. But what the producers and viewers want is what they call “good TV” — in this case, working-class fantasies aimed at men craving televised booster shots of testosterone.

Then, mix a little capitalist-class fantasy into that sudsy all-American brew:

• "People have no idea how important the coal industry is to America," says Mike Crowder, CEO of Cobalt Coal, in a video on Spike's website.

Leave it to Times commenters to bring us back:

• "Egad! Must be backed by the coal and gas industry? Manly men want to leave the coal in the ground," says Times online commenter Jim S., of Illinois.

Ok, so what's so commercially successful about TV that celebrates/showcases/exploits traditional (read masculine) industry that industrial museum don't got? Besides being accessible from the comforts of one's couch. I don't know, I tragically do not get Spike TV. It feels weird to think about coal mining as escapist entertainment -- but really, is this so different from my own coal-fascination and horror? I've never even been near a coal mine, but I have some sort of idealized/romanticized/escapist/earnest/ironic love of mining songs.


So maybe it's about nostalgia, whether it's Spike nostalgia for a myth of all-American industry, manliness, manual labor, or left-wing New England lady-blogger nostalgia for a myth of old-time authenticity and class struggle. Museums shouldn't trade in nostalgic myths, but the feeling of personal connection contained in them is potentially valuable when harnessed more critically: it comes back to people, our different experiences, the stories we tell, and the values we attach to one another.


Also, TV: Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire make me want to puke.

NPR: Coal Reignites A Mighty Battle Of Labor History

From All Things Considered: Coal Reignites A Mighty Battle Of Labor History

Great story about the 1921 "battle of Blair Mountain," in West Virginia, and current controversy over adding it to the National Register of Historic Places. Preserve the space of a landmark event in US labor and mining history, or open the site to mountaintop removal mining? This story is an unusually direct glimpse into the tensions that often arise between preservation, economic realities, and memory in dealing with local labor heritage and industrial history.

A sign commemorating the battle of Blair Mountain in Logan County, W.Va. NPR.

Key points:

King believes this is hallowed ground, like Gettysburg or the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., places where America's history was forever changed. But he's had a hard time making that case to the folks in Logan County — a place where every fourth person is out of work.

There are only about 16,000 miners in West Virginia today. Mountaintop removal doesn't require as much manpower as underground mining. These are coveted jobs; they pay well. So for the most part, miners are more interested in seeing the economy grow than preserving what they see as just another mountain.

"This is a political fight, this is a social fight, this is a fight about our history, our heritage, our culture," Simmons says. "It's a fight about what kind of society West Virginia is going to be going forward and what has been in its past."

Sounds to me like labor heritage interpretation at its best, and most relevant.

UPDATE (ish): The plot thickens?  http://www.sierraclub.org/environmentallaw/lawsuits/0312.aspx

"Down in a deep dark hole"

Presenting the definitive list of..some really good songs about mining! Why? Because I'm into that kind of thing, and that is what self-indulgent blogs are for. Right?

Oh, and because for most people, music has a tremendous power to make an instant connection and to elicit emotional response. There's an incredibly rich history of American song related to American industry, making labor songs a resource more museums might explore as an alternate access point, enrichment, or subject unto itself.

The American Textile History Museum, for example, has worked successfully with high school students to record contemporary renditions of traditional cotton mill songs, now featured in the museum's cell phone audio tour.

These are mostly -- but not exclusively -- about coal. Because I'm hung up on coal these days. But you get a little hard rock mining (click it, and laugh inappropriately...at the domain name, not at the worst hard rock mining disaster in US history) and steel mills thrown in here too, lucky!

• Gillian Welch, Miner's Refrain (see post title)
• Bob Dylan, North Country Blues [You just have to go get a legit version of this song. Or watch Joan Baez sing it on YouTube, I suppose.]
• Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner's Daughter
• Steep Canyon Rangers, Call the Captain
• Devo, Working in a Coal Mine
• The Grateful Dead, Beat it on Down the Line
• The Johnson Mountain Boys, Blue Diamond Mines
• The Decemberists, Rox in the Box
• Woodie Guthrie, Hard Travelin'
• Steve Earle, The Mountain

...Want even more? Who wouldn't?!

Mining, and Other Scary Industries: Fun for the Whole Family...?

Fun for the Whole Family: Welcome to the Black Hills Mining Museum, located in the mile-high city of Lead.

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 Underground Exhibit

Our newest major exhibit opened in 2002. This re-creation of a big part of a miner's life will leave you smiling — and shaking your head in amazement! [World Mining Museum]

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Welcome!

Join us for an unforgettable experience as we travel underground to explore the world’s oldest continuously operated anthracite coal mine! [No. 9 Coal Mine & Museum]

Do industrial museums have to have something inspiring, uplifting, or "entertaining" for their visitors?

A quick Monday morning Googling of "mining museum" revealed the above phrases from museum websites.

I have this thing where I get really bummed out when I think about coal mining. Maybe it's because I'm so completely removed in every way from the actual experience that it gives me the creeps -- the working conditions, psychological impact, corporate stuff, environmental impact, danger, health hazards, etc. I know that for plenty of people past and present it's just part of life, they deal.

Anyway: fun, exclamation points, unforgettable, amazement. These museums really want you to visit...and due to their subject matter probably aren't on every family's vacation itinerary. But the tone feels off. I'm picking on mines, but can industrial museums of all kinds connect to visitors emotionally without the "fun!!," while leaving them curious, empathetic, and active...rather than super depressed?

Check out the LOC's Lewis Hine Child Labor Committee Collection, subject heading coal miners. I find these to be some of the toughest historical photos ever taken to look at, and look in the eye.



 Trapper Boy, Turkey Knob Mine, Macdonald, W. Va. Boy had to stoop on account of low roof, photo taken more than a mile inside the mine. Witness E. N. Clopper. Location: MacDonald, West Virginia. Lewis Hine, 1908.

Reposted -- "Big Tipper: 1910"

Very cool image from Shorpy today: http://www.shorpy.com/node/9682?size=_original

"Toledo, Ohio, circa 1910. "Brown hoist, Ohio Central coal dock." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company."