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On Thursday, December 5, 2002, at 12:40 pm, Peter Claughton wrote: > Yukiko Inui, a Ph.D student from Japan studying the history of > photography > in the UK, has been looking at the portrayal of Brithish coal mining on > postcards. She makes the following comment - > >> I would also like to write about the fact that there can >> be seen strong heroism of miners in general in the >> postcard period, which seems very different from the >> Japanese miners. I can see the atmosphere of masculine >> sense in the history of Japanese coal mining, but the British >> miners' heroism seems much stronger. > > And asks - > >> Do you have any references on this issue in the field of >> the social or cultural history of mines? > > Can list members help with references and perhaps comment on the > comparison > she has made between heroism amongst coal miners in Britain and Japan. > > Post responses to the list and copy to INUI Yukiko <[log in to unmask]> > > If not already looked at the first and possibly finest book that comes to mind here is, ''Mongst Mines and Miners; Or Underground Scenes by Flashlight', Burrow, J.C. & Thomas. W., 1893. I think it would be essential in this instance to look at the original book, not the reprint which does no justice at all to the photographs. It is also an example of an early photographic/printing process. However, before someone shoots me, of course it's 'about' the Cornish tin mining industry, not coal. I seem to recall that Burrow or Thomas was contracted to take underground photographs in a coal mine(s) in the Midlands, but the details escape me at the moment. They/he photographed the north Wales slate mines for a Government report, but, again from memory, they were of the massive underground chambers rather than the miners themselves. At a tangent, more 'art' i.e. painting and sculpture than photography is, 'Coal: British Mining in Art 1680-1980 (1982). Also the lithographs contained in the Illustrated London News and The Graphic would be worth looking at, I am convinced that some of the fine drawings, e.g. the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Botallack Mine in 1865, is almost certainly drawn from the photograph of the same scene of them descending/ascending the incline, it's likely then that at least some coal-mining scenes, disasters et al depicted as lithographs in the ILN and Graphic may well have originated as photographs. Unfortunately, I can offer no comments on the question of comparison between the heroic depiction of Japanese and UK coal-miners. Peter Challis