People
David Amos - Mining Historian and Community Researcher
David and I share a starting point that makes the partnership unusual. Both from mining families, David went down the pit. I received an honorary membership of the National Union Of Mineworks and a coal industry scholarship to study art. Our paths diverged. We found each other decades later at a Digital Ambassadors presentation and subsequently created something neither of us could accomplish alone.
David brings what no platform or design methodology can manufacture — academic credibility earned from the inside, and the kind of community trust that only comes from belonging to the world you are documenting. A former pit worker, doctoral researcher and mining historian, David has spent years capturing stories that were in danger of disappearing. Together we have explored a contested history shaped by industrial decline, engaging with the generation that lived it, and recording former mining sites as they have transformed from black to green.
Our first research collaboration, the AHRC-funded A History of Coal Mining in 10 Objects (2010) involved the Universities of Nottingham, Leicester and Nottingham Trent, and explored mining culture, working processes and iconography. The resulting miningheritage.co.uk website, augmented with an illustrated booklet, presentations and video screenings, established a widely accessible blueprint for digital outreach projects.
In 2015, we co-founded the community interest company, Mine2Minds. The projects that followed, represent more than a decade of sustained commitment to former mineworkers and the communities of the East Midlands region.
Coal, Community and Change, a touring photographic exhibition, co-curated with Professor Natalie Braber (Nottingham Trent University) reached over 70,000 visitors over the course of six months. Banners and Beyond, published by Thinkamigo Editions in 2023, examined the tradition of mining union banners.
David has advised theatrical productions, filmmakers, academic researchers and broadcasters, including Jeremy Paxman during his primary research for Black Gold. Our conservation efforts were recognised in the BBC programme, Civilisations Stories; The Art of Mining (2018) in which we were both interviewed. MIne2Minds has produced several mining heritage publications and has citations in academic papers and books.
Our latest publication Coaltime Days is due to be published later this year.
Paul Fillingham