The Coal Mining in Illinois Oral History Project was a project that was formed to interview those involved with the Progressive Mine Workers and by extension those involved with the International Workers of the World. The project also focused a lot on the socialist movement in America that was sweeping through the country in the 1920s and the 1930s before slowly fading out due to the Federal Government wanting to crack down on the “radicals” infesting the country.

The project also heavily features information about the “Mine Wars” of the 1930s in Southern Illinois where the Coal Mine Workers were feuding with the companies running these mining operations due to continued denial to improve workers conditions and extremely harsh measures done to those who tried to unionize which included jail time and firing.

The collection was funded by the Historical Researcher Incorporated and led by a Sangamon State University Faculty member.