Mining Childhood: Growing Up in Butte, 1900-1960 - Paperback

by Janet Finn (Author)

Mining Childhood offers a fresh perspective on Montana history. Drawing from a broad range of archival materials and oral histories, the book offers a child's-eye view of key events in Butte's history and considers how social, political, and economic forces shaping life in Butte left their marks on children. With its rich stories, the book captures children's experiences of school, play, and work by exploring their joys and miseries, their keen impressions of life in Butte, and the varied lessons learned. These stories illuminate the meaning and purpose of mining life in Butte: people came in search of a better life for themselves, and they stayed and struggled in order to build a better life for their sons and daughters--living with the hardships and dangers of mining life so that their children might have a life beyond mining. Children were, quite simply, Butte's reason to be.

Back Jacket

Mining Childhood offers a child's-eye view of Butte, Montana, from 1900 to 1960. These years mark the rise and decline of Butte's fame as the "Richest Hill on Earth," when the veins of copper coursing deep beneath the city's surface created thousands of jobs for miners and untold wealth for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Children were keen observers and active participants in the community, and childhood accounts of work, play, family, schooling, ethnicity, and neighborhood life yield fresh perspectives on Butte. Their stories remind us that children were not sheltered from the "adult" world around them; they were shapers of that world. Childhood reminiscences reveal lessons in resolve, optimism, and possibility while reminding us that growing up is serious business.

Author Biography

Janet L. Finn is professor of social work at the University of Montana and faculty member in the international development studies and gender studies departments. She has written extensively about Butte and childhood.