The Occupational Folklife Project (OFP) began in 2010 as a multi-year project by the American Folklife Center (AFC) to document the culture of contemporary American workers during an era of economic and social transition. To date, fieldworkers across the United States have recorded more than 1800 audio and audiovisual oral history interviews with workers in scores of trades, industries, crafts, and professions. The completed interviews have been incorporated into the American Folklife Center archive at the Library of Congress.

The interviews, which average 50-60 minutes in length, feature workers discussing their current jobs and formative work experiences, reflecting on their training, on-the-job challenges and rewards, aspirations, and occupational communities.  In many cases, interviewees were asked to trace the career choices and educational paths that led them to their present jobs and share their thoughts on the future of their professions.

The Occupational Folklife Project includes field documentation on selected topics created by dozens of researchers or research teams throughout the United States. To honor the memory of folklorist Archie Green (1917-2009), the Archie Green Fellowship program was established at the American Folklife Center in 2010.  These fellowships have supported the fieldwork and preliminary processing of most of these Occupational Folklife Project collections. Awards were made with the understanding that the resulting documentation would be deposited in the AFC archive and made available to the public. Priority for recipients of Archie Green Fellowships has been given to fieldworkers documenting professions underrepresented in the AFC archive. See our website for more information about the Archie Green Fellowships. For information about the Occupational Folklife Project collections not yet online please contact the Folklife Reading Room.

The following collections are currently online:

• African American Nurses: The Chi Eta Phi Sorority: This collection consists of 15 audio interviews and related images with nurses who are members of the renowned historically Black national nursing sorority Chi Eta Phi in order to document members’ experiences as African American nurses in contemporary America. Read more. (Go to African American Nurses collection items)
• Agricultural Aviation: Crop Dusters in Rural America: Collection consists of 14 audio interviews and accompanying images documenting the occupational experiences, training, insights and perspectives of agricultural pilots in rural America. Most of the pilots – who are often referred to as "crop dusters"– are interviewed in person; several are interviewed online. The fieldworkers, Samuel Kendrick and Ellen Kendrick, who live on their family farm near the Missouri-Kansas border, received a 2020 Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to document agricultural aviators and other members of their occupation. Read more. (Go to Agricultural Aviation collection items)
• Baton Rouge Small Businesses and Trades: This collection consists of 31 in-depth interviews (primarily audio recordings and photographs supplemented by several videos) documenting the personal histories, occupational cultures, and work-related experiences of small business owners and tradespeople in Louisiana's capital city and surrounding parishes. Created in 2014 by the Louisiana Folklore Society and the Louisiana Folklife Program and directed by folklorist Maida Owens, it was supported by an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center. Read more. (Go to Baton Rouge Small Business and Trades collection items)
• Beyond the Breakwater: Gulf of Alaska Small-Boat Fishermen: This collection consists of 20 in-depth audio oral history interviews, a supplementary video and photographic portraits of commercial fishermen based in four fishing communities across the Gulf of Alaska communities: Sitka, Homer, Seldovia, and Kodiak. Led by project director, anthropologist and fisherman Josh Wisniewski, the project documented occupational histories and knowledge used to harvest different fish species by the small-boat fleet, including gill netting and purse seining, trolling, long lining, and jigging. The project also documented related trades and the changing environmental challenges faced by contemporary Alaskan fisherfolk. Read more. (Go to Beyond the Breakwater: Gulf of Alaska Small-Boat Fishermen)
• The "Big Top" Show Goes On: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting the complex occupational culture, training, and experiences of multi-generation circus workers. Recorded in the traditional "wintering over" town for midwestern family circuses, Hugo, Oklahoma. Read more. (Go to The "Big Top" Show Goes On collection items)
• Boeing Aircraft Factory Workers: Collection of 20 interviews including sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs and transcriptions documenting the occupational folklore of factory workers and other employees at Boeing aircraft manufacturing and maintenance facilities in and around Wichita, Kansas. In addition to their work experiences, interviewees also discuss Boeing’s enormous impact on the history and culture of urban Kansas over the past eight decades. Read more. (Go to Boeing Aircraft Factory Workers collection items)
• Cement Workers in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley: Collection consists of 20 occupational folklife interviews conducted by historian Vyta Pivo, who received a 2020 Archie Green Fellowship to document the occupational culture and folklore of cement workers in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The Lehigh Valley, a region in central Pennsylvania, is considered "the birthplace of the American cement industry." The project complements Dr. Pivo’s previous research on the history of concrete and cement in industry and architecture. Read more. (Go to Cement Workers in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley collection items)
• Commercial Bookbinders: Collection consists of 26 in-depth audio interviews documenting the occupational trade and work-related experiences of professional bookbinders throughout the United States. Interviews explore how the binders and book preservation professionals were trained, documents the histories of individual binderies, traces intertwined firm histories, and discuss how the binders’ occupation and the preservation of books have changed over the years. Read more. (Go to Commercial Bookbinders collection items)
• Community Health Workers in Downstate New York: Collection consists of 16 audio interviews and related images of community health workers conducted by folklorists Aaron Paige and Elinor Levy at Arts Westchester in White Plains, New York, working in collaboration with Sun River Health (SRH). They interviewed 16 of the nonprofit’s front-line community health workers in rural, urban, and suburban locations in the Hudson River Valley, New York City, and Long Island. Several of the SRH employees who were interviewed work specifically with migrant and immigrant farm workers and their families. Read more. (Go to Community Health Workers collection items)
• Cultural Traditions of Ironworkers in the Midwest: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting the culture and traditions of Ironworkers in Illinois and Wisconsin. Read more. (Go to Cultural Traditions of Ironworkers in the Midwest collection items)
• Custodians and Janitors in Colorado: Collection consists of 13 audio recordings and related images of interviews conducted by oral historian Cynthia Torres, who received a 2021 Archie Green Fellowship to document the occupational culture of custodians and janitors in Colorado. Ms. Torres, who worked as a custodian herself for several years before training as a documentarian at the University of Colorado, interviewed workers in this “undervalued and unnoticed” labor force to create an opportunity for custodians and janitors “to tell their stories and their relationship to their work” so that the general public will better appreciate their contributions. Read more. (Go to Custodians and Janitors in Colorado collection items)
• Dairy Farm Workers in New York's North Country: Collection of interviews including sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs and transcriptions documenting the occupational culture of dairy farm owners, farm workers, and workers in various dairy-related jobs in the northernmost tier of New York State. Read more. (Go to Dairy Farm Workers in New York's North Country collection items)
• Doctoring: The Occupational Folklore of Physicians: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2019-2020: Collection consists of 16 audio interviews and accompanying photographs with physicians working in a wide variety of medical specialties and documents their occupational folklife. Interviewees discuss their training, daily routines, work environments, personal motivations and challenges, and the occupational folklore and humor of their profession. Read more. (Go to Doctoring: The Occupational Folklore of Physicians collection items)
• Domestic Workers United: Collection consists of 22 audio and video interviews with recently arrived immigrants working as nannies, elder care providers, and housekeepers in private homes throughout the New York metropolitan area. Funded by a 2015 Archie Green Fellowship to the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), the project was directed by BAC folklorist Christopher Mulé. To conduct these in-depth interviews, Mulé joined with staff and members of Domestic Workers United (DWU), an advocacy organization based in New York, which represents Caribbean, Latina, and African nannies, housekeepers, homeworkers, and caregivers. Read more. (Go to Domestic Workers United collection items)
• Ethnic Grocers in the Urban Midwest: In 2013, folklorist Lucy Long received an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to document the work experiences and occupational histories of ethnic grocery store owners and workers in Toledo, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio. Interviewees include ethnic grocery store workers, managers and owners, and representatives of shops catering to Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Central and Eastern European communities. It also explores how ethnic groceries often serve as community focal points and provide an interface between ethnic and mainstream American culture. Read more. (Go to Ethnic Grocers items)
• Finding Roots: Asian American Farmers in Contemporary America: Collection consists of 22 in-depth audio interviews and associated images of Asian American farmers throughout the United States. Focusing primarily on Generation Y "Millennials" and farmers who grow Asian heritage crops that are central to the food ways of Asian communities across the U.S., the researcher also highlights innovative and organic farming practices and the challenges faced by people of color in American agriculture. The interviews were conducted remotely during the Covid pandemic, which despite the initial challenge of online interviewing, ultimately facilitated a wide geographic distribution of interviewees. Read more. (Go to Finding Roots items)
• Fixing, Mending, Making New: North Carolina's Repair Professionals: Collection consists of 22 audio interviews and accompanying still images and manuscripts documenting craftspeople and small business owners who make their livings repairing objects and challenging the contemporary dependence on single-use and throw-away items. Those documented include craftspeople who fix and restore typewriters, eyeglasses, musical instruments, clocks, glass and ceramic objects, marine engines, windows, automobile tires, furniture, shoes, silverware, jewelry, and plaster walls, as well as a few who will 'fix anything.' Read more. (Go to Fixing, Mending, Making New items)
• Food Processing and Food Legacy Trades: This collection consists of 12 in-depth audio interviews and photographs with American food specialists, scientists and agricultural workers who are negotiating traditional methods and 21st century digital, mechanical and cultural innovations in the food industry. The collection was created between 2016 to 2018 by anthropologist and food historian Makalé Faber Cullen, who donated her interviews to the Occupational Folklife Project. Read more. (Go to Food Processing and Food Legacy Trades collection items)
• Fresh Produce Workers in Arizona: Collection of oral history interviews documenting the sale, distribution, and transportation of fresh produce that enter the American food supply through the city of Nogales, Arizona, on the United States-Mexican border. Read more. (Go to Fresh Produce Workers in Arizona items)
• Funeral Services Workers in the Carolinas: Collection of sound recordings, moving images, photographs, and manuscripts of oral history interviews documenting the funeral service workers in the Carolinas. Read more. (Go to Funeral Services Workers in the Carolinas items)
• Grass-Roots Agriculture in Vermont: This collection consists of 26 in-depth audio interviews and supplementary photographs of farmers, dairy owners, maple sugar producers and other workers throughout the state of Vermont involved in "grass-roots agriculture" --i.e., the production, distribution and sales of agricultural products grown and/or crafted primarily for local and regional consumption. The study was conducted in 2014 at the Vermont Folklife Center by folklorists Andy Kolovos and Gregory Sharrow. Read more. (Go to Grass-Roots Agriculture in Vermont items)
• The Green Book: Documenting African American Entrepreneurs: Collection of sound recordings, video recordings, photographs, interview logs and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting contemporary businesses through the United States that were listed in the historically significant Green Book travel guide published between 1937 and 1967. Read more. (Go to The Green Book: Documenting African American Entrepreneurs items)
• Hairdressers and Beauty Shop Culture in America: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting the culture and traditions of beauty shop culture in America. Read more. (Go to Hairdressers and Beauty Shop Culture in America collection items)
• Homeless Shelter Workers in the Upper Midwest: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, and manuscripts documenting homeless shelter workers in the Upper Midwest. Read more. (Go to Homeless Shelter Workers in the Upper Midwest items)
• Hope for Recovery: Peer Support Workers in Kentucky: This collection consists of 16 oral history interviews with people employed as peer support workers in the state of Kentucky. In response to the opioid epidemic, the state government and addiction treatment facilities in Kentucky expanded training and employment opportunities for people in recovery from substance use disorders, allowing them to serve full time alongside clinicians in paid positions as peer support specialists. Documented by folklorist Ethan Sharp with the support of a 2020 Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center, these in-depth oral histories feature interviewees talking about their own lives – lives which were often complicated by substance dependency; how they became interested in working as counselors; their occupational training; and their plans for both their personal futures and the future of their profession. Read more. (Go to Hope for Recovery: Peer Support Workers in Kentucky items)
• Illuminating History: Union Electricians in New York City: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, and manuscripts documenting electricians in New York City. Read more. (Go to Illuminating History: Union Electricians in New York City items)
• Immigrant Women Artists in Oklahoma: This collection consists of 10 in-depth video interviews with immigrant women who are pursuing careers as professional artists throughout the state of Oklahoma. The collection was created by oral historian Julie Pearson-Little Thunder and her colleagues at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with funding from a 2020 Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center. Those interviewed include painters, multimedia artists, photographers, printmakers and a dancer/choreographer; their countries of origin include Pakistan, Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Venezuela and Iran. The collection also contains an interview with an Ethiopian-born photographer who works as a cultural development officer for the Oklahoma Arts Council. Read more. (Go to Immigrant Women Artists in Oklahoma collection items)
• Independent Professional Wrestlers in Central Appalachia: Collection consists of 12 audio interviews accompanied by documentary photographs documenting the occupational folklore and work-related culture of independent professional wrestlers working the sports and entertainment circuit in the central Appalachian region, who discuss their work, their training, and their relationship with their competitors and their fans. Read more. (Go to Independent Professional Wrestlers in Central Appalachia items)
• Kitchen Workers in Central Ohio: Collection consists of 16 interviews and accompanying video, still images, and manuscripts documenting "back-of-house" kitchen workers in or near Columbus, Ohio. Interviewees include veteran, part-time, and recently-employed food service employees working in kitchens, community markets, food trucks, and pop-up eateries. Read more. (Go to Kitchen Workers in Central Ohio collection items)
• Midwives, doulas, and birth workers in North Carolina: Collection consists of 20 audio interviews and accompanying photographs of midwives and doulas involved in birth work in diverse occupational settings throughout North Carolina. Interviewees discuss their training, daily routines, work environments, experiences, personal motivations and challenges, and the occupational folklore and philosophies of their profession. Read more. (Go to Midwives, doulas, and birth workers in North Carolina items)
• Multigenerational African-Descended Farmers of the Midwest: Surviving Erasure: Collection consists of 22 audio interviews and accompanying photographs of multigenerational African-descended farmers in rural Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, most of whom are descendants of Black pioneers who settled this region starting in the 1790s. Interviewees talk about their family histories, African American settlement of the Northwest Territories, and the rewards and challenges of contemporary farming. Read more. (Go to Multigenerational African-Descended Farmers of the Midwest items)
• Nursing America's Veterans: This collection consists of 29 audio interviews and related photographs of nurses working for the Veterans Health Administration (VA) at different facilities and in different capacities throughout the United States. The nurses describe their daily routines, reflect on their career paths and what led them into nursing, and recount their experiences of working for America's largest direct-care health provider. In addition, because this project was conducted during the COVID-19 epidemic, interviewees also talk about the impact of the epidemic on their jobs, their patients, and their personal lives. Read more. (Go to Nursing America's Veterans items)
• Personal Home Health Care Aides in Michigan: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of 28 oral history interviews documenting the history, occupational culture, and experiences of personal home health care aides in central Michigan, whose work-related narratives, on-the-job experiences, and significant contributions to their communities have been historically marginalized and under-documented. Read more. (Go to Personal Home Health Care Aides in Michigan items)
• Production Potters of the Midwest: Collection of video and sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and photo logs of 11 oral history interviews documenting the occupational folklore, training, and work related experiences of professional production potters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It focuses on both their artistry and the commercial aspects of working full-time in this regional craft-based profession. Read more. (Go to Production Potters of the Midwest items)
• Psychiatric Nurses in Wisconsin: In 2018, Charitie Hyman, an independent folklorist and mental health worker from Madison, Wisconsin, received an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to document the occupational folklore and culture of psychiatric nurses in Wisconsin. During 2018 and 2019, she recorded 20 work-related oral histories from a diverse group of nursing professionals throughout the state. These in-depth interviews explore the interviewees' professional training and daily work routines, as well as issues of race, power, and prestige in workplace relationships. Read more. (Go to Psychiatric nurses in Wisconsin items)
• Ranger Lore: The Occupational Folklore of Park Rangers: Folklorists Brent Björkman, Director of the Kentucky Folklife Program at Western Kentucky University and Jonathan Kay, Director of Traditional Arts Indiana at Indiana University, documented the oral histories, folklore, and work-related experiences of 55 park rangers and park employees working in state and federal parks in Indiana and Kentucky. Read more. (Go to Ranger Lore items)
• The Ransomville Speedway: Dirt Track Racing in Western New York: This collection consists of 17 oral history interviews conducted by folklorist Edward Y. Millar, who received a 2020 Archie Green Fellowship to document the history, occupational culture, and folklore of dirt track workers at the legendary Ransomville Speedway in western New York State. Read more. (Go to Ransomville Speedway: Dirt Track Racing in Western New York items)
• Recent Immigrant Workers in Iowa's Meatpacking Industry: Collection of 19 interviews including sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs and transcriptions documenting the occupational folklore and work-related experiences of recent immigrants and refugees employed in Iowa meatpacking plants and meat processing industry. It includes interviews with immigrants and refugees from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, many of whom also reflect on their lives as new Americans and how their presence is reshaping local and regional culture in Iowa and Illinois. Read more. (Go to Recent Immigrant Workers in Iowa's Meatpacking Industry collection items
• Rural Free Delivery: Mail Carriers in Central Appalachia: This collection consists of 24 in-depth audio interviews and related photographs with 24 contemporary and recently-retired rural mail carriers and clerks (formerly known as postmasters) in the upper mountain South (VA, WV, KY, OH). Interviewees discuss their work-related activities and responsibilities; the function they serve as lifelines in their community; and how their place of work— rural post offices—are invaluable community hubs in remote rural areas. Read more. (Go to Rural Free Delivery collection items)
• Stable Views: Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack: Collection of oral history interviews with workers employed in the care and training of thoroughbred racehorses, including grooms, exercise riders, horse trainers, hot-walkers, and jockeys recorded at various locations. Read more. (Go to Stable Views: Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack collection items)
• Taking Care: Documenting the Occupational Culture of Home Health Care Workers: Collection of video and sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting the workplace culture, training, and experiences of home health care workers in Oregon. Read more. (Go to Taking Care: Documenting the Occupational Culture of Home Health Care Workers collection items)
• Teaching in Wisconsin Classrooms: Collection of interviews including sound recordings, interview logs and transcriptions, photographs, and supplementary materials documenting the work-related experiences, training, and occupational folklore of 32 classroom teachers in the state of Wisconsin. Documented by a four-member research team consisting of folklorists Anne Pryor, Mary Hoefferle, Ruth Olson, and Mark Wagler from Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture (WTLC), the collection features interviews with elementary art teachers, fourth- and fifth-grade classroom teachers, and teachers whose work involves more community-facing orientations and activities. Read more. (Go to Teaching in Wisconsin Classrooms collection items)
• Tillamook: Cheesemakers in Coastal Oregon: This collection consists of 9 audio interviews, a video and related photographs documenting the Tillamook County Creamery Association, a farmer-owned cooperative in coastal Oregon. Over the course of a century, Tillamook Creamery’s cheese and dairy products have become a nationally prominent brand while maintaining a local farmer-owner co-op model. "The result is a sense of cultural heritage and identity rooted in and expressed through dairy." These interviews document individuals employed in the wide range of jobs and occupations associated with the county’s cheesemaking process including dairy farmers, factory line workers, food scientists, and marketing specialists. Read more. (Go to Tillamook collection items)
• Tobacco Workers of the Connecticut River Valley: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, interview logs, and transcriptions of oral history interviews documenting the history, occupational culture, and experiences of tobacco farmers and tobacco farm workers in Massachusetts and Vermont, where growing and harvesting high-quality cigar tobacco has been a mainstay of the local economy since the 1600s. Read more. (Go to Tobacco Workers of the Connecticut River Valley collection items)
• Training the Troops: Military Role-Players of Fort Polk, Louisiana: Collection consists of 20 audio interviews and related visual images of “cultural role-players” employed by the United States military to train American and allied troops at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Over more than a decade, these role-players – whose ranks include both recent immigrants and long-term area residents — have evolved a unique occupational culture as they role-play being Iraqi and Afghan villagers or other foreign nationals on the training grounds of this large US Army base. During month-long rotations, these workers staff more than a half-dozen villages as “extras” who interact with soon-to-be-deployed troops to create simulated but deadly serious conflict scenarios. Read more. (Go to Training the Troops: Military Role-Players of Fort Polk, Louisiana)
• Trash Talk: Workers in Vermont's Waste Management Industry: Collection of interviews including sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs and transcriptions documenting the occupational folklore of people engaged in different sectors of the waste management chain, including trash collection, sorting, marketing, processing, management, and regulation. The project provides a picture of the daily lives of workers in an economically and environmentally important, but often hidden, industry during a time of significant technological change. Read more. (Go to Trash Talk: Workers in Vermont's Waste Management Industry collection items)
• Washington State Workers: Collection of 20 sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs of interviews with a cross section of Washington’s union workers, including nurses, teachers, health care workers, grocery store cashiers, bus drivers, machinists, communication workers, hospitality and airline workers, teamsters, electrical linemen, theatre workers and stage hands, members of the building and construction trades, and a classical musician who also owns and operates an auto repair shop. Interviews were conducted by folklorist Deborah Fant of Northwest Folklife working in collaboration with the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (WSLC), which provides services for more than 600 local unions and trade councils and represents approximately 450,000 rank-and-file union members in the state of Washington. Read more. (Go to Washington State Workers items)
• Western Folklife Center: Gold Mining in Nevada: Collection of audio oral history interviews documenting contemporary gold mining in northern Nevada, and other local occupations, particularly ranching. Read more. (Go to Western Folklife Center collection items)
• Winery Workers in Virginia: Collection consists of 22 interviews including sound and video recordings, photographs, and interview transcriptions documenting the occupational folklore of winery workers in northern Virginia. The interviews were conducted by Kim Stryker, a folklorist from Falls Church, Virginia, whose 2017 Archie Green Fellowship project documented the occupational traditions and work-related narratives of workers in numerous Virginia wineries. They address various aspects of Virginia’s rapidly expanding wine industry. Those interviewed included winery owners, growers, vintners, tasting room managers, fieldworkers, scientists, and others involved in a variety of tasks, specialties and sub-specialties in Virginia vineyards. Read more. (Go to Winery Workers collection items)
• Women Architects: Collection consists of 15 in-depth audio interviews with prominent women architects throughout America recorded by independent scholar, oral historian, preservationist and architect Sarah K. Filkins. In 2019, Filkins received an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to interview a diverse group of women architects working in large, medium, and small architectural firms, at universities, and for agencies throughout the United States. She documented stories of their occupational culture; their experiences training and working as architects; and their narratives of the challenges they face in what is still a heavily male-dominated occupation. Read more. (Go to Women Architects collection items)
• Working the Port of Houston: Collection of audio oral history interviews documenting the diverse culture of workers associated with the Port of Houston, Texas, and the Houston Ship Channel. Read more. (Go to Working the Port of Houston collection items)
• Working the Waterfront: New Bedford, Massachusetts: Collection of sound recordings, photographs, and manuscripts documenting workers on the New Bedford, Massachusetts, waterfront. Read more. (Go to Working the Waterfront: New Bedford, Massachusetts items)