Kentucky Miners Defense Photographs 1931-1939

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Kentucky Miners Defense Photographs 1931-1939

http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/photos_016/photos_016.html

The Kentucky Miners' Defense was formed to help free seven miners convicted of murdering three coal company guards in Evart, Harlan County, Kentucky, during a miners' strike in May 1931. Herbert Mahler, director of the organization, spearheaded the publicity campaign to bring national attention to the miners` case. Fund-raising publicity was often aimed at unions and their members, since the Kentucky miners had been attempting to organize, but were being blocked by the coal companies, when the incident took place. The collection spans the years 1931-1939 and consists of 44 photographs, almost all of which are 8x10 black and white copy prints. It is made up of the images of the convicted miners and their families used for publicity purposes by the Kentucky Miners' Defense. There are also views of the area where the strike took place. The shots of Harlan County were used by the defense in the 1932 case. Additional images show Mahler with the four defendants, Al Bencon, Chester Poore, W.B. Jones and Jim Reynolds, the wives of three of them, and portraits of one of the witnesses for the defense. Court versus Hightower

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Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

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SNAC Resource ID: 6331155

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

Poore, Chester.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bb16vf (person)

Jones, W. B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65q52r6 (person)

Phillips, Elzie.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jz4cb0 (person)

Benson, Allan L. (Allan Louis), 1871-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t45b5x (person)

Mahler, Herbert.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j83dz6 (person)

Kentucky Miners Defense.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rv8h3v (corporateBody)

The Kentucky Miners' Defense was formed to help free seven miners convicted of murdering 3 coal company guards in Evart, Harlan County, Kentucky during the miners' strike in May 1931. Herbert Mahler (a former activist in the Industrial Workers of the World), director of the organization, spearheaded the publicity campaign to bring national attention to the miners` case. Fund-raising publicity was often aimed at unions and their members since the Kentucky miners had been attempting to organize wh...

Daniels, Dolly Hudson

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65p2488 (person)

Reynolds, Jim

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jj9hs7 (person)

Hightower, William.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w649080g (person)