Gift Shop
Books
Coal Mines, Coke Yards, Company Stores: Families of the Patch
Compiled and written by Bobby G. Salitrik. Stefano’s Printing, 1994.
Especially designed for elementary school students, this 28-page activity book features short stories, poems, word games and coloring pages featuring a glimpse of daily life during the days of coal mining and coke making in the Connellsville Coke Region.
Soft-cover: $5.00
Common Lives of Uncommon Strength: The Women of the Coal and Coke Era of Southwestern Pennsylvania
1880-1970
Compiled, written and edited by Evelyn A. Hovanec. Stefano’s Printing, 2002.
“They led common lives of uncommon strength, courage, endurance and hope.” This 227-page anthology of personal recollections grew from interviews conducted when the Coal and Coke Heritage Center first began compiling archives and oral histories. From a woman’s prospective and through a woman’s voice come the words of their experiences; they are the voices of a past time telling their stories of a lifetime. Included are vintage photographs, documents, maps, and newspaper articles.
Soft-cover: $25.00
Hardcover: $35.00
Patch/Work Voices: The Culture and Lore of a Mining People
Compiled and written by Dennis F. Brestensky, Evelyn A. Hovanec and Albert N. Skomra. Patch/Work Voices Publishing, 4th printing, 2003.
First issued in 1977, and now considered the classic work on the coal and coke industry, this 90-page book contains stories and testimonies from area coal miners, coke workers, and their families. Along with the industry, details include information related to home and community, beliefs and customs, and even a touch of humor. A coda brings readers up to date with what has happened in the region since the initial printing.
Soft-cover: $15.00
The Early Coke Worker
Edited by Dennis F. Brestensky. Connellsville Printing Company, 1994.
The papers and transcribed talks in this second series of three publications were delivered at a conference held at Penn State Fayette in April 1994. Featured presenters include John A. Enman (Connellsville Coke; Catalyst and Victim of Change) and Max Nobel (Beehive Coke, Menallen Coke Company at Shoaf: Last Commercial Firing of Ovens). This 166-page edition also incorporates vintage photos of the coking industry.
Soft-cover: $15.00
Mining Literature and Lore
Edited by Dennis F. Brestensky. Connellsville Printing Company, 1997.
Last in a series of three publications, this edition is an anthology of papers delivered at a conference on Mining Literature and Lore held at Penn State Fayette in September 1995. Featured presenters include Barbara Angle (The Lure of the Mine: A Miner’s Tale of Struggle and Survival Underground), Judith Hendershot (Mining Memories: The Seduction to Write) and Sonja Jason (Women of the Coal Culture). Illustrations from original artwork by Ellen Carroll, Charles Kovach and Robert Hustead complete this 140-page edition.
Soft-cover: $15.00
The Beehive Coke Years; A Pictorial History of Those Times
By John K. Gates. Privately printed, 1990.
Vintage photographs and informative text comprise this 128-page soft cover edition compiled and written by one of the area’s best known photographers and historians. “The photographs presented in this publication depict not only the mining and coking of coal, but also the everyday life and environment of the workers and their families,” Mr. Gates wrote in the introduction. This is a well-documented collection that features “the things that just aren’t here anymore” in a book you just can’t put down.
Soft-cover: $20.00
