Miner's Story Project oral history collection
Collection area: Arizona and Southwest
Collection dates: 1913 to 2018
This collection contains materials relating to the personal historical accounts of employees of several Copper Mines in Arizona, as compiled by former Associate Director of Communications at the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, Shipherd Reed. The collection consists primarily of newspapers, photos, ephemera, interview notes, books. It also contains a considerable amount of A/V and digital materials, such as DVDs, CDs, VHS and cassette tapes, mostly recorded oral histories from former miners.
Mining has been a core economic activity in Arizona since the early 1900s, having a significant social and societal impact that was felt throughout many generations. This collection of oral histories, cataloged and recorded by Shipherd Reed, spans the period of the 1950s up until 2008, when many of the smokestacks were demolished upon the decline of active mining operations. The personal stories of life working in the mining industry offer a look at the daily life and challenges of former miners in Arizona.
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