Description: In 1864, Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth sparked people’s imagination, but have you heard that before the novel was published, the Smithsonian attempted a journey of its own.
Description: Workers in the interior of breast #39 in coal mine under edge of Shenandoah City, about 500 feet below the surface, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, MAH-2846.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="A model showing a mining town with railroad tracks in the foreground, various coal mining buildings, and houses in the background in the United States National Museum, now the Arts and Industries Building, c. 1920, by Unidentified photographer, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 285, Box 16,