WVU Libraries

By Samantha Ryder, WVRHC Graduate Assistant

When I first started working at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) in September 2023, I noticed a picture hanging on the wall next to the staff offices. As I worked longer and longer, my fascination with the picture grew. It depicts three people in what is said to be mining safety equipment. But it honestly has quite an eerie look.

The only information I knew going into this research was that it was taken in front of Mechanical Hall around 1912 – 1913. After looking at the WVRHC’s collections, I found that this picture was originally in the 1976 bicentennial collection. There are also additional versions of this image; one is a digitized version on WV OnView and the facsimile on the wall of the WVRHC.

The Bicentennial Collection includes various other original photographs of WVU buildings and students. The Bicentennial Collection is a smaller part of a larger collection, A&M 5188, that contains various other WVU themed original photographs throughout the history of the University. Visitors can look at turn of the century images of WVU students, classrooms, and other buildings around campus! Visitors can look at original images of the WVU horticulture building, science labs and stations, and pictures of WVU’s grounds from the 1890s.

When I looked closely at the picture, I found that ‘Draeger’ was printed on the equipment.  After doing some research, I found a German company and their website states they were founded in 1889 by Johann Henrich Dräger. In the early 20th century, the Draeger company went to the St. Louis World’s Fair to exhibit their new company. Furthermore, the company explained their early involvement in the creating and distributing of mining safety equipment and the prevalence of Draegermen, a term commonly used in North America. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Draegerman as “one of a crew trained for underground rescue work.” The Draeger company explained further how Draegermen reached a point of such great notoriety that they were featured in a Superman comic. There was also a movie called Draegerman Courage that was released in 1937 by Warner Brothers. A special edition of Theatre News describes the story of a group of Draegermen who are tasked with rescuing miners who are stuck in a collapsed mine.

The Draeger website explains how they opened the Drager Oxygen Apparatus Co. in New York but would move to Pittsburgh a few years after the turn of the century. This is likely where the equipment in the photo was acquired.

According to the Draeger website, the apparatus that the people on the left and right side of the picture are wearing is the Draeger model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. This was a critical piece of machinery for the use of mine rescuing in the years after its release. The Draeger company conducted their own breathing experiments when designing the Drager Model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. After much research, I was unable to conclusively identify what specific kind of mining equipment the middle person is wearing. “Draeger” is not written on that piece of equipment, so it is unclear if that is also a Draeger piece of mining safety apparatus.

The WVRHC has several other WV OnView images of both mining safety apparatus and general mining equipment. One of those images depicts a mine rescue crew standing in front of their van.

There is also another image that shows the van and associated equipment without the rescue miners in the image. Additional mining equipment can be viewed on the WVRHC’s website.

As I was conducting this research I began to think about the story behind the image. Who took this picture? Why did they take it? In my opinion, there are two likely options to this question. First, the people in the image decided to take a funny picture of themselves wearing this equipment, possibly taken by another friend. Either that, or it was taken by a member of the faculty after the students had a class about the use of this equipment. Either way, it’s a fascinating image with an even more fascinating history behind it.