Farmington Mine Disaster, Farmington, W. Va., 1968

Overview

Facsimile of a letter from Bill Evans to Roger Ruhl regarding the Farmington Mine Disaster. Evans was a reporter, as well as sports columnist and editor, for the Fairmont Times. Evans apologizes to Ruhl for not writing at Thanksgiving and explains that he had been busy covering the Farmington Mine disaster. The letter describes his experience reporting from the scene in detail, particularly focusing on the attitudes and behavior of other newsmen.

Overview Photocopies of newspaper articles regarding the Farmington Mine Disaster. The articles were photocopied, arranged by date, and labeled with bibliographic data by a professional clipping service. The Farmington Mine disaster was an explosion that happened on 20 November 1968, at the Consol No. 9 coal mine; 78 miners died as a result of the explosion. The Farmington disaster was a catalyst for major changes in mining safety laws, including the 1969 Coal Mine Safety and Health Act. This...

Scope and Contents Papers collected by the Barnes family of WV and Ohio regarding the Farmington Mine Disaster (1968 November 20) and its aftermath. Includes newspaper and clippings; letters of support from the Methodist Church and others to Rev. John Barnes; letters from both their mothers to his wife, Jacqueline Barnes; a handwritten narrative account by Jacqueline Barnes; and other material such as official reports from the coal company, Consol. Includes full issues (1968-1973) of various newspapers, mostly...