Greetings!
Next year, 2026, will mark the 25th anniversary of Anthracite Mining Heritage Month, which began in 2001 as Mining History Week in the northern anthracite coalfield in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre areas. As you may know, it has since expanded to include 27 different events held last January, 2025, in over two dozen communities across all three anthracite fields (northern, middle, and southern). This annual event has shown the great public interest in the social, economic, and cultural history of the hard coal region. Thanks again to all who have participated.
A new planning committee for AMHM formed last spring and is pleased to offer a more manageable program format that we hope will continue for another quarter century (or more). The reformulation is based on the fact that, of last year’s 27 different events, we had as many as three scheduled for the same day, some in the same town while others were miles away. We had similar “congestion” the previous three years. This is to say that the schedule has become very crowded, and the scheduling needs some revision.
Therefore, the new idea formulated by the planning committee is to spread out the sessions as follows:
- Continue offering the bulk of the programs in January.
- Offer as many programs as possible in February.
- Spread other proposed programs across the spring and fall.
Consequently, we ask that you carefully consider any presentation that you may make, or any session you may organize, in view of this new schedule.
One other change is that the Anthracite Heritage Museum (AHM) will assume responsibility for putting together each year’s schedule of events. Hence, all program proposals should be sent to the AHM using this portal.
I have been pleased and honored to serve as the primary organizer of AMHM over the past 24 years, and I’ll be happy to continue on the new planning committee. Please consider me available to answer any questions or assist with any inquiries.
With warm regards,
Bob Wolensky
(715) 252-6742
rwolensk@gmail.com