The two-day symposia succeeded in sharing knowledge and experiences of interested parties from Norway, Sweden, and the United States, all of whom have a strong interest in coalmining and its history on Svalbard.

Representing the Longyear family was Chris Longyear, grandson of John Munro Longyear, founder of the Arctic Coal Company. Mr. Longyear was present for both days of the symposia, during which time he related his knowledge of his grandfather with the attendees.  

Traveling from Longyearbyen were Venche Horseide and her colleague Heidi Urdshals, both employed by Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani (SNSG). They presented the process of coalmining in the arctic with visual and printed materials. 

Dag Avango, a scholar of Svalbard coalmining, who has since received his doctorate from KTH in Stockholm, Sweden, discussed his research that is the basis for his dissertation. He presented various ideas concerning the political motivations behind establishing mining claims across the archipelago of Svalbard. 

Another visitor from Sweden, Fred Goldberg, shared his visual expertise in the form of videos he produced about coalmining history and active coalmine operations on Svalbard. His history production focused on Old Longyear City, while the other presented current operations at the present-day SNSG mine at Svea. 

Local historians and archaeologists both made presentations at the Marquette and Houghton segments of the symposia. They include Russ Menghini and John Anderton from Northern Michigan University; Marion Sonderegger from Marquette; and Erik Nordberg, Patrick Martin, and Larry Mishkar from Michigan Tech.