About Us
“Can you imagine a greater gift than that? You not only give your life, but your identity as well. . . .They gave their all. They gave their very names.”
Oliver Wendell Homes
At the graves of the unknown soldiers
The Anthracite Heritage Foundation is a non-profit corporation governed by a Board of Trustees. In cooperation with King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, the Foundation will prepare and administer an ongoing program of events that will educate students and the public about the lives of our anthracite coal miners and their families. Scheduled events will include ethnic music offerings, dramatic productions, speakers, specially produced DVD’s, audio interviews, and art and photographic exhibits that relate to miners’ lives, homes, and working conditions. These productions are meant to celebrate and honor our coal miners, breaker boys, and all who labored in this industry. They will be modified as required to serve as an educational tool to enlighten our public, private, and parochial school students, helping them understand our local history and how this industry and those who worked in it have fashioned our present environment.
In addition, using the Ellis Island Foundation as a guide, The Anthracite Heritage Foundation has developed a computer-based questionnaire that will enable descendents and friends of a past miner to enter pertinent information on his life in the coal fields. This data will form a picture of each miner’s life, with such details as country of origin, where he worked, where he lived, where he worshipped, whom he married, and if deceased how and when he died. The collection of this information will bring to life the dreams, struggles, triumphs, and sacrifice of each individual miner so honored. In the future the foundation plans to build a memorial garden with a wall of honor where a sponsor may have individual names permanently displayed.
“We wish to be remembered; willing to die, we are not willing to be forgotten.”
– Joshua Chamberlain, Hero of Little Round Top