The story of the Coal Industry and of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the later 20th century is a dramatic and painful one of growing strength and success followed, in the 1980s, by bitter industrial conflict, the outcome of which was the sudden and disastrous collapse of both industry and union, severely affected by changing government policies towards the energy market. The documents in the Archive form valuable primary and background research material to the history of this decline, and relate not only to the coal industry but to the entire field of energy: electricity, gas, nuclear power, oil, and alternatives; along with other industries and relevant topics, including iron and steel, transport, the environment, industrial relations, health and safety, U.K. government and E.E.C. statistics on trade and population, trade unions and human rights.