Full bibliography

A correspondent of the Scottish American Journal, who visited the Albion Mines in Pictou County in 1880, could not help but be struck by a sharp division in the mine labour force: "The boys seem(ed) happy enough, and were bright little fellows from 11 to 15 years of age; the men were respectful and small in stature, but they appeared dull and phlegmatic by contrast with the younger generation". Unfortunately, colliery boys have not caught historians' attention as they did this Victorian correspondent's. While the relatively "dull and phlegmatic" older Nova Scotian miners have been the subject of an extensiveamount of recent historical research, the boys have been virtually ignored. --Introduction