This leather-bound, clasped diary chiefly comprises John Smith's September 1839 voyage from Liverpool, England on the British Queen to the United States and his journey to the Black Heath Coal Mine twelve miles outside of Richmond, Virgina. Smith was enlisted by mining engineers, Thomas Young Hall (1802-1870) and Frank Foster, both of Northumberland, England, to help reopen the Black Heath Coal Mine after the 18 March 1839 explosion that killed more than forty miners, almost all African Americans. John Smith describes the condition of the 700 foot pit. His daily labor in the pit included retrieving the dead bodies of miners and mules, pumping out the water, ventilating and reinforcing the pit, and measuring the thickness of the coal seam. He writes the time that he enters and exits the pit and with whom he descends, such as William Hall, Thomas Young Hall, and Frank Foster. Smith writes of his meals, describing a local barbecue and corn-shucking party. Portions of the diary are written in pencil with the same dates following and rewritten on pencil-ruled pages in ink. John Smith also records going to the Mid-Lothian mine, west of Black Heath, and mentions visiting the Ironstone mine. Smith begins his trip back to England from Virginia on 28 November 1839. He records the cities at which they stop along the way to New York. Smith stays overnight in Philadelphia, Pa., where he describes Girard College, Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Waterworks. Arriving in New York, Smith boards a ship, along with Thomas Young Hall for England. Smith mentions coming home to his wife Mary. Other entries in the diary consist of Smith's work in the Stella and Emma pits at the Durham and Northumberland coal fields in England. There are some entries regarding his family, deaths of friends, and marriages. There are also entries concerning the cost of livestock and vegetables. John Smith writes phonetically, and the diary has consistent misspellings.
