Russell Lee Photos on Display in Washington, DC, Eight Decades Apart – Pieces of History

Today’s post by Robert Pines, a public affairs specialist with Public and Media Communications in Washington, DC, is inspired by a photo series he found while browsing the National Archives Catalog.

“All the essential characteristics of a coal-mining community—except for the coal dust and the odors—are portrayed.”

These are the words used in promotional material for a 1947 Library of Congress–hosted exhibit of coal survey photographs titled Men and Coal—an early parallel to our own Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey exhibit on display now at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Records of the 1947 exhibit, prepared by the Coal Mines Administration and presented in cooperation with the Department of the Interior, are held by the National Archives.

Just like in Power & Light, the photographs of Russell Lee featured prominently in Men and Coal, as Lee was contracted to document a nationwide coal survey (with photo supplement) commissioned by the Truman administration in 1946. This survey came about as part of a strike-ending agreement negotiated between the Department of the Interior and the United Mine Workers of America.

While the scope of the Library of Congress exhibit, which focused on the survey as a whole, was broader than that of our own, the two exhibits overlap. For example, the large image of the Sergent family on their front porch in the center of a panel about “The Miner, His Home, and His Family” in 1947 is the same one displayed at the entrance of our exhibit in 2024.

Just like in the National Archives exhibit, there was an emphasis on the homes and daily lives of coal miners and their families. Of note, the survey found a disparity in the health and safety conditions of the homes provided by coal companies. While 70 percent of the miners rented company-owned or -managed homes, the survey found only 35 percent of the homes fully adequate.

Community is also a major focus of both exhibits, which depicted everything from children going to school to families eating at a restaurant. Also reflected are recreation activities important to the health of the miners and their families.

Of course, both exhibits also contain an unvarnished view of the challenges associated with coal mining, from backbreaking labor to sanitation, health concerns, and debilitating and mortal dangers. A quotation featured in Power & Light from a widow by the name of Mrs. Leanore Miller reads, “There’s more widows and orphans in this holler than men at work,” reflecting the risk faced by those who toiled in the mines.

Since these exhibits were developed in very different times, there are differences between the 1947 and 2024 exhibits as well. Notably, Power & Light focuses on the diversity of the coal miners. The exhibit notes that “[r]ecrutiment efforts and the geographic distribution of the mines resulted in significant numbers of Black, Japanese, Latino, Hungarian, Greek, Indigenous, and Italian American miners.”

Today’s exhibit also takes a more artistic approach to its display, with infographics, interactive light panels, and wall-sized imagery.

Despite these differences, remarkable imagery of heartland communities not always depicted in the halls of Washington, DC, are a hallmark of both exhibits. No matter the decade from which they are examined, Lee’s timeless photographs tell a powerful story about a group of Americans whose labor was essential to the growth of the United States.

While Men and Coal has long since passed, don’t miss your opportunity to see Power & Light. Alongside Russell Lee’s photos are original records, including a handwritten note from President Truman in which he wrote that a coal strike was called “for no good reason” as well as a protest note attached to a coal bag sent to President Truman. As written in the exhibit description, experience “the story of laborers who helped build the nation, of a moment when the government took stock of their health and safety, and of a photographer who recognized their humanity.” 

Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey is on display now through December 7, 2025, in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.