The Coxe family owned 30,000 acres in Pennsylvania’s Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne Counties. From 1865 to 1905, they owned mining companies, collieries, company towns and even their own railroad. During this period the various Coxe companies were recognized as one of the largest independent anthracite coal producing interests in the United States.

“The Coxe Family Mining Papers chronicle all aspects of the family’s coal mining interests, documenting the changing immigrant labor force, and various strikes and labor organizing efforts at Coxe-owned collieries,” explained David Moltke-Hansen, the Society’s president. “These papers also show how Coxe heirs acquired and leased their vast land holdings.”

He continued, “Journals, ledgers and financial data shed light on the business side of the operation, while extensive papers related to Eckley B. Coxe illustrate the contributions of one of the most innovative and knowledgeable mining engineers of our time. This important collection complements the Historical Society’s Coxe Family Papers and is of great interest to researchers of economic history, labor relations, technology and social welfare.”

Most of the 500 linear feet of material was donated to the Society in 1968, but this is the first time the papers are available to researchers. The two-year processing project was made possible by a $77,873 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The balance of the project was covered by Society funds and by an additional grant of $14,755 from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for processing a discrete portion of the records. The papers were processed by Project Archivist Brett M. Reigh and Archival Processor Patrick Henry Shea, with the guidance of Archival Consultant Carol W. Smith. Reigh and Shea organized the papers, housed them in acid-free folders and boxes for archival preservation, and produced a box inventory and finding aid to facilitate their use by researchers. The finding aid is available in the reference room of the Society’s library, and detailed information about the collection can be found on the Society’s web site at www.hsp.org.

Founded in 1824 in Philadelphia, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest historical societies in the United States and holds historical materials of national importance. It is one of the largest family history libraries in the nation, has excellent printed collections on local and regional history, and offers a manuscript collection renowned for its 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century holdings. These collections are used not only by historians and genealogists, but also by set and costume designers, journalists, script and fiction writers, actors and re-enactors, as well as researchers of historical dance, recipes, music, gardens, and many others.