About

Paul A. Shackel is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland. His research expertise includes Museum Studies and Material Culture. He is based in Tawes Hall, College Park, MD, and can be contacted via phone at 301.405.1425 or email at pshackel@umd.edu. His work focuses on the study and preservation of material culture within American Studies, contributing to the understanding of cultural heritage and museum practices.

Research topics

• History
• Archaeology
• Geography
• Sociology
• Political science

Selected publications

• Memorial: Mark P. Leone (1940–2024)

  Historical Archaeology · 2026-01-09

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  at age 84 (Fig. 1).Leone's work had a significant impact on the field of historical archaeology.His long presence in the field and his dedication to the discipline and to his students allowed him to train several generations of professionals who continue to make contributions to the field and society.He helped establish historical archaeology as an essential subfield of the larger discipline of archaeology, contributing to the development of urban archaeology and the study of social inequality.His approach to archaeology, which emphasized the need for archaeological findings to be contextualized within larger social, political, and economic systems, continues to shape the way archaeologists approach excavations and interpretation.His commitment to public engagement in archaeology also set a standard for making archaeological research more inclusive and relevant to communities.By using archaeology as a tool for exploring both historical narratives and contemporary issues, Leone's work has left a lasting legacy to the field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Radical hope: re-contextualising oral histories from deindustrialised mining communities

  International Journal of Heritage Studies · 2024-02-22 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The anthracite coal mining landscape of northeastern Pennsylvania is in ruin, a by-product of two centuries of unchecked capitalism. Much of the land is stripped of its timber and surface mines lay abandoned. The industry began its decline after WWI and virtually collapsed during the post-WWII era. Waste piles of coal litter the landscape, and the streams and rivers are considered dead because of the minerals and high acid content of water draining from abandoned mines. Many scholars have written about the extreme work conditions the coal workers faced, the demise of the coal industry, and the impact of deindustrialization on the region's people. Often overlooked is how members of the mining communities had a radical hope. Radical hope helps oppressed people to see that another condition and another world is possible, although not guaranteed. Re-examining oral histories from the anthracite region recorded in the 1970s, when the industry was in its great decline, demonstrates how these mining communities anticipated a future good, understanding the struggle to attain it.

  PublisherDOI

• “For God and Country”: memory of the 1912 Lawrence textile strike

  International Journal of Heritage Studies · 2024-12-23

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Recovering psychological trauma in coal mining communities

  Labor History · 2024-11-08 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Unchecked Capitalism Behind The Bird’s-Eye View

  Pennsylvania History A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT By the middle of the nineteenth century, the development of bird’s-eye views, or panoramic lithographic maps, became a popular vehicle for Americans to promote their towns and cities. Today, they are important for understanding late nineteenth-century geography, the spatial layout of towns, and architecture. Examination of one of these maps, “Miner’s Mills and Mill Creek,” in the anthracite region, shows the care and precision of the mapmaker, T. M. Fowler. A deeper reading of the map enables us to reveal a more complicated story of the community’s past. Researching the history of one anthracite town shows how the anthracite industry led to environmental, social, and psychological trauma, which continues today. While coal mining is now almost nonexistent, a social history of anthracite communities represented via panoramic lithographic maps can provide a long-term history of past traumas.

  PublisherDOI

• Foreword:

  University Press of Florida eBooks · 2023-04-25

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Living in the Anthracite

  University of Illinois Press eBooks · 2023-08-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Contemporary observers described mining towns--also known as coal patch towns--as dull, monotonous, and oppressive. Documentation, oral histories, and court cases provide a stunning picture of the workers’ poor housing. The coal operators did not think twice about placing several families in a three-room house. However, subsequent workers' unrest and various forms of resistance prodded the coal operators to improve the miners’ living conditions, although they were often far from adequate. During the Great Depression, miners took control of some of these patch towns. Collaboratively, they developed community projects around the health and safety of the town, like developing better forms of sanitation.

  PublisherDOI

• Contributors

  University Press of Florida eBooks · 2023-01-10

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Anthracite memories: semantic tagging and coal mining oral histories

  International Journal of Heritage Studies · 2023-08-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Oral histories are a critical source of information about lived experiences of past events. They have been analyzed both for their form – linguistically as texts, performances, and expressive accounts – and their content for understanding historic events and personal experiences. Here we focus on sentiment analysis approaches frequently applied to big data research questions, but less often utilized by anthropologists working with oral histories. Oral histories collected half a century ago in the anthracite mining communities of northeastern Pennsylvania are examined by considering methodological and historical questions. This project explores how oral history and data science might be productively combined to understand these now historic communities' everyday lives and working conditions. Bakhtin's (1981) concept of chronotope helps us understand the memory of these anthracite coal mining communities' daily life and working conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Heritage Building and the Ethnic Divide in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania

  University Press of Florida eBooks · 2023-05-23

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Anthracite coal extraction developed in northeastern Pennsylvania’s in the early nineteenth century and by the late nineteenth an early twentieth centuries the industry attracted immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. Today the anthracite coal industry is nearly extinct, and the area is impoverished. There is now a new wave of immigrants coming from the Caribbean and South America to the region to work in low skilled jobs. The new Latinx community has brought new economic life to the region, although they have been confronted with racist attitudes by the descendant community and its politicians. They see the newcomers bringing a new language and customs as well as influencing the way the region will memorialize anthracite heritage. The Anthracite Heritage Program, based in the University of Maryland, focuses on the region’s archaeology and works with students from diverse backgrounds from the local high school and NGOs. It is part of a larger movement to include the new immigrants in discussions of heritage building. By developing an interpretive message that emphasizes universal values related to the historic and contemporary immigration experience it works to create a platform that bridges the differences between the newcomers and the descendant community.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Teresa S. Moyer

  National Park Service

  16 shared

• Barbara J. Little

  University of Maryland, College Park

  11 shared

• Julie H. Ernstein

  William & Mary

  5 shared

• Christopher Fennell

  4 shared

• Ben A. Nelson

  Arizona State University

  4 shared

• Lawrence E. Babits

  4 shared

• Laurajane Smith

  4 shared

• Mark P. Leone

  4 shared