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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
The Monongah Mine Disaster is widely considered to be the worst mine disaster in American history. On December 6, 1907, mines 6 and 8 of the Monongah Mine in West Virginia suffered a devastating explosion. The explosion destroyed much of the mine as well as the surface. It killed most miners instantly and trapped others below, making rescue attempts difficult and dangerous. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| December 6, 1907 | Around 10:00 am, an explosion rocked mines 6 and 8, killing hundreds instantly, and trapping the over 300 survivors. |
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| December 7, 1907 | Damage to ventilation systems hamper rescue operations. |
| December 12, 1907 | Newspaper estimates of 400 to 500 dead. |
