Miners

Elizabeth Olds probably met these men while visiting mining operations in Pennsylvania, where deaths from mining accidents in the 1930s averaged 200 a year. This was about a sixth of the total coal mine deaths in the entire country. It’s possible that the blue tinge on these miners’ faces refers to the small bluish pits workers got on their skin from standing too close to a dynamite blast. This ennobling portrait may convey an underlying message of support for miner unionization. The men’s common gaze suggests teamwork, while their beacon-like headlamps may point to the role of miners in the country’s economic recovery. Their racial and ethnic diversity may reflect Olds’s support for general union efforts to be more inclusive.