South Wales Coalfield Disputes Photographs

Photographs relating to disputes, demostrations and strikes concerning the South Wales Coalfield, including the General Strike of 1926, and the Miners' Strikes of 1972, 1974 and 1984-5. Photographs have been catalogued in chronological order.

No information known/available at time of compilation.

The photographs in the South Wales Coalfield Collection were originally held at the South Wales Miners' Library where they were catalogued on a subject basis.

Access unrestricted unless stated otherwise.

An online finding aid can be found at www.swan.ac.uk/swcc

Digital images of some of the photographs may be viewed at http://www.agor.org.uk/cwm/.

No publication without written permission from the Archivist.

The photographs are part of the South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC) held at Swansea University. The SWCC was established in 1969 as an attempt to preserve the documentary records of the mining community of South Wales. At that time over one hundred mines had been closed since nationalisation, more pit closures were threatened and such records were in danger of being destroyed. Fortunately the officers of the National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area) were aware of the problem and began the transfer of their non-current records to the Library at University College Swansea while encouraging their constituent lodges to do the same. In 1971 the South Wales Coalfield History Project was set up, funded by the Social Science Research Council, to locate and collect manuscript and printed material of archival significance. Such was the success of the Project which lasted until 1974, that it was followed by a second from 1979-82.