The National Canal Museum opens for the season on April 1 and will have a special exhibition titled “Coal Country Portraits.”

The museum, run by the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, is located at Hugh Moore Park in Easton.

The exhibit celebrates the hardworking men, women and children who helped extract the anthracite coal that powered America’s industrial growth. Centered on George Harvan’s black-and-white photography of anthracite miners and their families, the exhibition offers a window into the gritty reality of miners’ working conditions. Harvan’s portraits are complemented by works by photographer Lewis Hine and artist Frank “WYSO” Wysochansky, as well as artifacts evoking the daily life of miners.

Anthracite coal was the primary fuel used in America through the early 1900s, and its production drew tens of thousands of Americans and newly arrived immigrants to live and work among the mines of Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties.

“Coal Country Portraits” will be on display April 1 through Dec. 17. The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in April and May. Beginning June 7, the museum will be open Wednesday through Sunday with rides offered on the mule-drawn Josiah White II canal boat.

Museum admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors (65 and above), $6 for children (3 to 15), and free for children under three.