Bryan T. McNeil Oral History Collection Inventory (#20298)

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Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary Including Abstract
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Terms
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Description
block Related Material
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Processed by
Steven Weiss
Date Completed
February 2000
Encoded by
Steven Weiss
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Descriptive Summary Including Abstract

Title
Bryan T. McNeil Oral History Collection (#20298) 1997
Creator
McNeil, Bryan T.
Extent
3 audio cassettes
Repository
Southern Folklife Collection
Abstract
Interviews conducted in West Virginia in 1997 by Bryan T. McNeil for his honors essay "In My Time: The Strike of 1949 in the Lives of the Coal Miners of Southern West Virginia" (Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998). The four interviewees are retired from the coal mining industry: Rufus Bethel is an African-American who worked as a coal miner; Roderick Pickett was a mine foreman; and Louis Vasvary and Fred Iddings are Anglo-American former coal miners. In the interviews, the participants discussed their lives, including their family history, their childhood, their experiences in the mines, and their thoughts on the United Mine Workers of America and on the mining industry in West Virginia. Special emphasis is placed on the period 1949-1950 with the men talking about the lifestyle during that time, their knowledge of negotiations during the 1949 strike, and their opinions relating to that event.
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Administrative Information

Access
No restrictions
Usage Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Provenance
Received from Bryan T. McNeil of Advance, N.C., in May 1998 (Acc. 98107)
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Online Catalog Terms

African American coal miners--West Virginia--History--20th century.
Afro-Americans--West Virginia--Social life and customs.
Bethel, Rufus.
Coal Miners' Strike, U.S., 1949-1950.
Coal miners--West Virginia--History.
Coal mines and mining--West Virginia.
Family--West Virginia--Social life and customs.
Iddings, Fred.
Labor disputes--West Virginia--History.
Labor unions--West Virginia.
McNeil, Bryan T.
Oral history.
Pickett, Roderick.
Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--West Virginia.
United Mine Workers of America--History.
Vasvary, Louis.
West Virginia--Economic conditions.
West Virginia--History--To 1950.
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Biographical Note

Bryan T. McNeil was an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "In My Time: The Strike of 1949 in the Lives of the Coal Miners of Southern West Virginia" was his honors essay in the Department of Anthropology (1998).

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Collection Overview

Interviews conducted by Bryan T. McNeil for his honors essay "In My Time: The Strike of 1949 in the Lives of the Coal Miners of Southern West Virginia" (Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998).

The four interviewees are retired from the coal mining industry and are friends and former co-workers of Herman Whaling, Bryan T. McNeil's grandfather. Whaling helped his grandson conduct the interviews, which were recorded at Whaling's home, an interviewee's home, or the UMWA Hall in Keystone, W.Va.. Rufus Bethel is an African-American who worked as a coal miner, Roderick Pickett was a mine foreman, and Louis Vasvary and Fred Iddings are Anglo-American former coal miners.

In the interviews, the participants discussed their lives, including their family history, their childhood, their experiences in the mines, and their thoughts on the United Mine Workers of America and on the mining industry in West Virginia. Special emphasis is placed on the period 1949-1950 with the men talking about the lifestyle during that time, their knowledge of negotiations during the 1949 strike, and their opinions relating to that event.

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Description

Bryan T. McNeil Oral History Collection, 1997.
3 audio cassettes.
Interviews conducted by Bryan T. McNeil for his honors essay "In My Time: The Strike of 1949 in the Lives of the Coal Miners of Southern West Virginia" (Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998).
The four interviewees are retired coal miners who are friends and former co-workers of Herman Whaling, Bryan T. McNeil's grandfather. Whaling helped his grandson conduct the interviews, which were recorded at Whaling's home, an interviewee's home, or the UMWA Hall in Keystone, W.Va.. Rufus Bethel is an African-American who worked as a coal miner, Roderick Pickett was a mine foreman, and Louis Vasvary and Fred Iddings are Anglo-American former coal miners.
In the interviews, the participants discussed their lives, including their family history, their childhood, their experiences in the mines, and their thoughts on the United Mine Workers of America and on the mining industry in West Virginia. Special emphasis is placed on the period 1949-1950 with the men talking about the lifestyle during that time, their knowledge of negotiations during the 1949 strike, and their opinions relating to that event.
FS-4556. Interview with Rufus Bethel
FS-4557. Interview with Roderick Pickett
FS-4558. Interview with Louis Vasvary and Fred Iddings

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Related Material

"In My Time: The Strike of 1949 in the Lives of the Coal Miners of Southern West Virginia" by Bryan T. McNeil (Dept. of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998), North Carolina Collection (C378 UO14.2 1998 v.2), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.