Commemorating Coal Mining Worldwide

This book contains descriptions of 432 coal-mining museums, heritage centres, archives and memorials, and preserved colliery sites in 48 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe and New Zealand. This is not a history of coal mining, but rather a catalogue of how museums around the world have portrayed the history of coal mining, colliers and mining communities. This includes subjects such as the development and dissemination of new technology, features commonly found on the surface of mines, disasters, transport, women and children working underground, working conditions, strikes and trade unions, and slavery and forced labour, especially in wartime and by certain countries in particular. There is a detailed introduction, including discussion of the types of buildings used for museums and collections such as art and fossils, and a concordance of 18 items found commonly at the sites described, including those with a genuine or a simulated underground experience and opencast sites open to the public.