Wales In America

Between the years 1860 and 1920, around 80,000 Welsh immigrants settled in the United States. A striking feature of Welsh settlement during this period is the concentration of Welsh in one state: Pennsylvania, and within it, the north-east Pennsylvania anthracite coalfield. In 1900, over 17 percent of Welsh immigrants were living in and around the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in an area about twice the size of the Rhondda Valley. This book focuses on Scranton, the epicenter of Welsh America during its golden era. The author examines cultural life, the literary and musical societies, eisteddfodau and religious groups as well as other aspects of popular culture such as insobriety and sports that the leaders of the Welsh community frowned upon. The author also analyzes the self-image of Welsh America as reflected in its own newspapers and periodicals; the relationship of the Welsh with other ethnic groups; and, of course, the anthracite industry which, in its boom years, drew thousands of skilled Welsh miners across the Atlantic.