Memory and Relevance: Local History and Outreach by the Anthracite Heritage Project at Eckley Miners’ Village

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Eckley Miners’ Village in Luzerne County, PA is a living history museum that holds significance to many residents of the surrounding area. Preserving and interpreting the homes and buildings that once made up an anthracite coal mining patch town, the site retains ties to many in the area who either lived in Eckley or are related to people who lived in Eckley. However, since 2000 the population demographics of Luzerne County have changed drastically, with the Hispanic and Latino population increasing over 500% between 2000 and 2011.  As the population begins to change, the relevance and perceived value of local history to the public stands to change as well. This paper identifies and analyzes the interpretive choices made by the Anthracite Heritage Project at Eckley as a response to these rapidly changing demographics in order to provide a better understanding of how local historical sites adapt to changing population bases. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 309