Working-class families respond to industrial decline: Migration from the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region since 1920

International Labor and Working-Class History

Volumn , Issue 54, 1998, Pages 40-56

  Dublin, Thomas ^a  

^a BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032250940     PISSN: 01475479     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0147547900006207     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. "Asset Sales by British Coal," New York Times, December 3, 1994, and "The Hard Times of a Coal Town," New York Times, April 22, 1997; René Leboutte, "Les bassins industriels en Europe: Production et mutation d'un espace, 1750-1992," EUI Working Papers in History 93 (1993):79-87; Lewis H. Siegelbaum and Daniel J. Walkowitz, Workers of the Donbass Speak: Survival and Identity in the New Ukraine, 1989-1992 (Albany, 1995).
2. "Asset Sales by British Coal," New York Times, December 3, 1994, and "The Hard Times of a Coal Town," New York Times, April 22, 1997; René Leboutte, "Les bassins industriels en Europe: Production et mutation d'un espace, 1750-1992," EUI Working Papers in History 93 (1993):79-87; Lewis H. Siegelbaum and Daniel J. Walkowitz, Workers of the Donbass Speak: Survival and Identity in the New Ukraine, 1989-1992 (Albany, 1995).
3. "Asset Sales by British Coal," New York Times, December 3, 1994, and "The Hard Times of a Coal Town," New York Times, April 22, 1997; René Leboutte, "Les bassins industriels en Europe: Production et mutation d'un espace, 1750-1992," EUI Working Papers in History 93 (1993):79-87; Lewis H. Siegelbaum and Daniel J. Walkowitz, Workers of the Donbass Speak: Survival and Identity in the New Ukraine, 1989-1992 (Albany, 1995).
4. "Asset Sales by British Coal," New York Times, December 3, 1994, and "The Hard Times of a Coal Town," New York Times, April 22, 1997; René Leboutte, "Les bassins industriels en Europe: Production et mutation d'un espace, 1750-1992," EUI Working Papers in History 93 (1993):79-87; Lewis H. Siegelbaum and Daniel J. Walkowitz, Workers of the Donbass Speak: Survival and Identity in the New Ukraine, 1989-1992 (Albany, 1995).
5. This paper draws upon a larger study of deindustrialization in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania which I am conducting jointly with Walter Licht of the University of Pennsylvania. The studies reported on here are part of that collaboration and have benefited from grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation.
6. "Production of Anthracite . . . 1913-1932," RG 9, Box 6065, NRA Anthracite Code materials, National Archives, Washington, DC; Bureau of Census, 1992 Census of Mineral Industries: Coal Mining (Washington, DC, 1995), 12A-5.
7. "Production of Anthracite . . . 1913-1932," RG 9, Box 6065, NRA Anthracite Code materials, National Archives, Washington, DC; Bureau of Census, 1992 Census of Mineral Industries: Coal Mining (Washington, DC, 1995), 12A-5.
8. See, for instance, a series of articles in the New York Times, March 3-9,1996, reprinted as The New York Times, The Downsizing of America (New York, 1996).
9. See, for instance, a series of articles in the New York Times, March 3-9,1996, reprinted as The New York Times, The Downsizing of America (New York, 1996).
10. The Panther Valley consists of five communities in a valley running for twelve miles southwest of Jim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk). These include Nesquehoning, Lansford, Summit Hill, Coaldale, and Tamaqua. Alumni organizations from public high schools in Nesquehoning, Summit Hill, Lansford, and Coaldale and from an area parochial school, Marian High School, were kind enough to share address lists with us. The Marian lists included its own graduates as well as those from St. Mary's and St. Ann's, two high schools that merged into Marian after the period on which we focused our efforts. We are grateful to officers of these groups and to respondents for their support and interest.
11. For discussion of methodological questions involved in the use of the Public Use Microdata Samples, see James N. Gregory, "The Southern Diaspora and the Urban Dispossessed: Demonstrating the Census Public Use Microdata Samples," Journal Of American History 82 (1995):111-34; and Rodney M. Ito II, Brian Gratton, and Joseph Wycoff, "Using the 1940 and 1950 Public Use Microdata Samples: A Cautionary Tale," Historical Methods 30 (1997):137-47.
12. For discussion of methodological questions involved in the use of the Public Use Microdata Samples, see James N. Gregory, "The Southern Diaspora and the Urban Dispossessed: Demonstrating the Census Public Use Microdata Samples," Journal Of American History 82 (1995):111-34; and Rodney M. Ito II, Brian Gratton, and Joseph Wycoff, "Using the 1940 and 1950 Public Use Microdata Samples: A Cautionary Tale," Historical Methods 30 (1997):137-47.
13. The difference here is between 33.8 years on average for men and 36.5 for women.
14. Donna Gabaccia, From the Other Side: Women, Gender and Immigrant Life in the U.S., 1820-1920 (Bloomington, IN, 1994), 30-31.
15. Here I must acknowledge that bias no doubt has influenced this finding. High school graduates who have migrated greater distances from their hometowns are less likely to maintain contact with their alumni associations than those who remain nearby. Moreover, nearby alumni are probably more likely to respond to a survey questionnaire than those at a greater distance. These findings should only be extrapolated to the broader population of area high school graduates with extreme care.
16. We have consciously excluded from our count of out-migrants those surveyed whose only period away from the Panther Valley occurred while they attended college or served in the military. If a respondent returned to the Panther Valley immediately after college or military service s/he has been coded as having always stayed in the region.
17. The pattern of out-migration among high school graduates in the Panther Valley was profoundly shaped by the lack of economic opportunity in the region in the postwar years. For an interesting comparative analysis of in- and out-migration in another Pennsylvania community in a slightly earlier period, see Sidney Goldstein, Patterns of Mobility, 1910-1950: The Norristown Study (Philadelphia, 1958).
18. I would like to acknowledge the work of Mary Ann Landis, who conducted roughly one-third of these interviews, and Walter Licht, who did six.
19. Dorothy Pennachio was particularly helpful in locating potential interviewees in northern New Jersey; James Coon of the United Steelworkers retirees' organization, and a story in the Bristol County Courier-Times, proved crucial in contacting appropriate individuals in the Fairless Hills-Levittown area.
20. Joe Kodak interview, Philadelphia, PA, June 6,1995,23-24. This and all descriptions and quoted material in the remainder of the paper appear with the permission of the interviewees. Transcripts of all cited interviews are in the possession of the author.
21. Paul Melovich interview, Levittown, PA, June 7,1995, 25-26; John Zokovitch interview, Manville, PA, June 5, 1995, 22.
22. Paul Melovich interview, Levittown, PA, June 7,1995, 25-26; John Zokovitch interview, Manville, PA, June 5, 1995, 22.
23. John Pavuk interview, Manville, NJ, April 20, 1994, 29-31; Mike and Mary Vitek interview, Lansford, PA, November 24,1995, 23.
24. John Pavuk interview, Manville, NJ, April 20, 1994, 29-31; Mike and Mary Vitek interview, Lansford, PA, November 24,1995, 23.
25. Don Hunsinger interview, Carteret, NJ, June 16, 1995, 13; see also 30 on the Hunsingers' adjustment to life in suburban New Jersey.
26. Mary Painter interview, Mount Joy, PA, September 16, 1994, 14-15.
27. Anna Stone interview, Lansford, PA, April 4, 1994, 16, 18; Irene Gangaware interview, Lansford, PA, September 5, 1993, 7, 14-15; Anna Meyers interview, White Bear, PA, October 3, 1994, 27.
28. Anna Stone interview, Lansford, PA, April 4, 1994, 16, 18; Irene Gangaware interview, Lansford, PA, September 5, 1993, 7, 14-15; Anna Meyers interview, White Bear, PA, October 3, 1994, 27.
29. Anna Stone interview, Lansford, PA, April 4, 1994, 16, 18; Irene Gangaware interview, Lansford, PA, September 5, 1993, 7, 14-15; Anna Meyers interview, White Bear, PA, October 3, 1994, 27.
30. Grace Ferrari interview, Summit Hill, PA, August 24,1994,10; Anna Stone interview, 18-19.
31. Grace Ferrari interview, Summit Hill, PA, August 24,1994,10; Anna Stone interview, 18-19.
32. Mike Sabron interview, Summit Hill, PA, June 28-29, 1993, 18.
33. Ella Strohl interview, Nesquehoning, PA, July 30, 1993, 3; Ken and Ruth Ansbach interview, Nesquehoning, PA, September 6, 1993, 14.
34. Ella Strohl interview, Nesquehoning, PA, July 30, 1993, 3; Ken and Ruth Ansbach interview, Nesquehoning, PA, September 6, 1993, 14.
35. Ziggie Whitecavage interview, Levittown, PA, April 4, 1995, 20-21; Gloria Rehill interview, Levittown, PA, April 7, 1995, 9.
36. Ziggie Whitecavage interview, Levittown, PA, April 4, 1995, 20-21; Gloria Rehill interview, Levittown, PA, April 7, 1995, 9.
37. Mike Sabron interview, 35; Ken and Ruth Ansbach interview, Lansford, PA, October 13, 1994, 19; Theresa Pavlocak interview, 34.
38. Mike Sabron interview, 35; Ken and Ruth Ansbach interview, Lansford, PA, October 13, 1994, 19; Theresa Pavlocak interview, 34.
39. Mike Sabron interview, 35; Ken and Ruth Ansbach interview, Lansford, PA, October 13, 1994, 19; Theresa Pavlocak interview, 34.
40. Herbert G. Gutman, Power and Culture: Essays on the American Working Class (New York, 1987), 326.