About this collection

When the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (DL&W) Railroad added direct ownership of coal mining facilities to its operation in 1851, its combination of mining and transportation industries under one corporate entity gave it a market advantage. The DL&W became one of the largest and most prosperous anthracite transporting and mining companies in Pennsylvania.

However, following the successfully prosecuted antitrust suit of United States v. Delaware, Lackawanna & W. R. Co. in 1915, as well as a series of antitrust actions against competitors, the DL&W voluntarily divested itself of its mining operations, which were reorganized under the Glen Alden Coal Company in 1921.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co. Coal Department photographs (Accession 1990.267) collection consists of dated and undated views of mining equipment, mine tunnels, and mine building exteriors and interiors in the eastern Pennsylvania counties of Lackawanna and Luzerne. Most of the views are exteriors devoid of workers. Many of the photographs include a photo credit for W. B. Bunnell, the official photographer of the DL&W.

Image: Loomis breaker, March 21, 1916. Click here to view the image in the digital collection.