Free to Use and Reuse: Work in America

These images depict a diversity of work in America, as found across collections generated by the American Folklife Center's field survey projects between 1977 and 1998. In urban and rural communities--and in settings encompassing traditional occupations, small businesses, factories, and natural resource management--you will find in these photographs a wide range of people engaged in jobs that contribute to economies, individual identities, and cultural communities.

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  Dale Thibault at the Thibault & [Leighton] Nunn Saddlery, Miles City, Montana. Photo by Barre Toelken, 1979.

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  Group of women working on a windmill quilt at a quilting bee in the living room of Mabel Brown's home on Drews Creek, West Virginia. Photo by Lyntha Scott Eiler, 1995.

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  Barber Louis McDowell demonstrates stropping his razor, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

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  Effie Dimakarakos inserting components into circuit board, Wang Laboratories Assembly Plant, Lowell, Massachusetts. Photo by Tom Rankin, 1988.

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  Quahaugging (quahogging) with David Ward, Exeter, Rhode Island. Photo by Thomas Burns, 1979.

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  Worker spoons sweet potato pie batter into pie shell, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

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  Woody Boggs rebuilding an engine at Jarrell's Garage, Naoma, West Virginia. Photo by Lyntha Scott Eiler, 1996.

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  Louis McDowell cuts Roger Dailey's hair, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

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  Luc Thien Hong assembling an Epic system computer central processing unit, Wang Laboratories Assembly Plant, Lowell, Massachusetts. Photo by Tom Rankin, 1988.

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  Dale Pulliam with tractor, sickle-bar mower, newly mowed hay, near Heeney, Colorado. Photo by Howard Marshall, 1980.

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  William Snedigar, blacksmith, Stevensville, Montana. Photo by Michael Crummett, 1979.

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  Bill Senecal ranch, stacking hay, Avon, Montana. Photo by Gary Ward Stanton, 1979.

• Stonecutter Eugene Halone shapes stone in Billings, Montana. Photo by Barre Toelken, 1979.

• Wheelwright Harvey Howes and fieldworker Paula Johnson discuss the "dish" of a whee, Miles City, Montana. Photo by Michael Crummett, 1979.

• Wheelwrights Harvey Howes and Dale Thibault line up holes with spokes and pound the wheels together as far as possible, Miles City, Montana. Photo by Michael Crummett, 1979.

• Hot dog vendor and customer, Jazz Alley, Chicago Illinois. Photo by Jonas Dovydenas, 1977.

• Street artist at work on a portrait, Jazz Alley, Chicago IL. Photo by Jonas Dovydenas, 1977.

• Opie Aldman, of B&T Logging Contractors, unchaining logs from a bulldozer, Canterbury Hollow, West Virginia. Photo by Lyntha Scott Eiler, 1995.

• Miners loading into the mantrip, Montcoal, West Virginia. Photo by Lyntha Scott Eiler, 1996.

• "Finisher" Teresa Maturano with undyed silk she has unpacked and beaten to eliminate tangles, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Machine operator Orlando Lee at dyeing tank with silk he is dyeing red, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Dye house machine operator Martino Cardone putting dyed silk into a spinning machine used to remove water, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Woman with spools of thread in warping department, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Jelina Cubic at work at the winding operation, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Martha Jiggetts takes a taxi dispatch call at Jiggetts Transportation, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Susan Levitas, 1994.

• Martha Jiggetts behind the wheel of a taxi, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Susan Levitas, 1994.

• Howard Fulcher and his mother, Ida Fulcher, behind the counter of their pharmacy, attending to customer, Eula Mae McCall, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Howard Fulcher waits on customer Luke Martin, Paterson, New Jersey. Photo by Martha Cooper, 1994.

• Elidia DaSilva and Lucia Bettancourt unpacking disk drives in V/S system final assembly area, Wang Laboratories Assembly Plant, Lowell Massachusetts. Photo by Tom Rankin, 1988.

• Alba and Cecilia Carbona dipping frames in trough of melted wax, Ymittos Candle Company, Lowell Massachusetts. Photo by Tom Rankin, 1988.

• Female kitchen worker, the Southeast Asian Restaurant and Grocery Store, Lowell Massachusetts. Photo by John Lueders-Booth, 1987.

• Kitchen worker measures flour at Barry's Pastry Shop, Lowell Massachusetts. Photo by John Lueders-Booth, 1987.

• Kitchen worker prepares pastry at Barry's Pastry Shop, Lowell Massachusetts. Photo by John Lueders-Booth, 1987.

• Adrien Morin makes a hoop for a potato storage barrel, St. David, Maine. Photo by David Whitman, 1991.

• John Plourde moves logs into position using a peavey at Tardiff sawmill, Fort Kent, Maine. Photo by David Whitman, 1991.