MOUNDSVILLE — Author Bob Campione will discuss his book “1968 Farmington Mine Disaster” at the Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library at 6 p.m. Aug. 21. The presentation will offer details about this tragic historical event as revealed by Campione’s photographs and eye-witness account. A book-signing will follow. This event is free and open to the public.

Campione was witness to the aftermath of one of the worst mining disasters in West Virginia’s history. His photographs tell the heart-wrenching story in his 2016 “Images of America” book from Arcadia Publishing. Campione will share the story of the disaster and how he came to document the unfolding events at Consol Mine No. 9 when an explosion killed 78 coal miners.

In a community dependent on the mining industry, Bob Campione was a young man of 20 going to school and working as a news photographer when he covered his first major incident, the death of four men at Mine No. 9 on April 30, 1965. Just a few years later he would be returning to that very same location only to see smoke pouring out of the ground on Nov. 20, 1968. Campione was there for the next 10 days to record the events as they took place, and many of his photographs have never been seen or published until the release of this book.

This special event is sponsored by the Robert Baker Family and courtesy of the author. The Moundsville Library is located at 700 Fifth St., at the corner of Fifth Street and Tomlinson Avenue in Moundsville. Light refreshments will be available. For more information, call 304-845-6911 or find the library on Facebook.