America Works

Features the voices of contemporary workers from throughout the United States talking about their lives, their workplaces, and their on-the-job experiences. Drawn from hundreds of longer oral history interviews collected by fieldworkers for the American Folklife Center's Occupational Folklife Project (OFP), America Works is a testament to the wisdom, wit, knowledge, and dedication of today's working Americans. These engaging oral histories, which have are preserved in the American Folklife Center's archive, are enriching and expanding America's historical record.

  • Audio Recording
    Dale Baumgartner, Head Cheese Maker, Tillamook Cheese. Tillamook, Oregon. Dale Baumgartener, long-time Head Cheese Maker at the Tillamook County Creamery Association, a farmer-owned cheese and dairy cooperative, talks with folklorist Jared Schmidt for his Occupational Folklife Project “Tillamook: Cheesemakers in Coastal Oregon.” He talks about growing up on a dairy farm, his start in the cheese industry, and his pride in working for a nationally respected brand like Tillamook Cheese.
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Dale Baumgartner
    • Date: 2024-10-17
  • Audio Recording
    Phuong Mai Nguyen and Amp Phettaphong, Family Restaurant Owners. Columbus, Ohio. Phuong Mai Nguyen and her husband Amp Phettaphong, owners of the popular Indochine Café in Columbus, Ohio, came to the US as refugees and, after working a variety of other jobs, stared their own restaurant. The couple talk with folklorist Jess Lamar Reece Holler at their restaurant between lunch and dinner shifts by as part of Hollar’s Occupational Folklife Project “Back of House: Kitchen…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Phuong Mai Nguyen - Amp Phettaphong
    • Date: 2024-10-10
  • Audio Recording
    George Neiden, German sausage maker. Maple Heights. Ohio. German sausage maker George Neiden, who owns and runs the Old Country Sausage Kitchen in Maple Heights, Ohio, talks with folklorist Lucy Long about learning and plying his trade – (and the delight he takes in creating new sausage flavors!) — for her Occupational Folklife Project “Ethnic Grocers in the Urban Midwest.”
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - George Neiden
    • Date: 2024-10-03
  • Audio Recording
    Jade Sato, Asian American Farm Owner. Brighton, Colorado. Jade Sato, the founder and owner of Minoru Farm in Brighton, Colorado, talks with documentarian Katelyn Reuther about being part of a growing movement of Asian American farmers, many of them women, who are experimenting with raising and marketing Asian heritage crops, like sisho, ginger and gobo root, for a rapidly diversifying American palate. Their talk is part of Reuther’s Occupation Folklife Project “Finding…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Jade Sato
    • Date: 2024-09-26
  • Audio Recording
    Emily Daniels, Agricultural Pilot. South Hampton, New Jersey. Emily Daniel, one of a small but growing number of female agricultural pilots – or, as they are often referred to, “crop dusters” – talks with documentarian Ellen Kendricks about learning to fly planes as a teenager, career challenges, and managing a small family-owned crop spraying business that services farms from New Jersey to Maryland and Texas and Kansas.
    • Contributor: Emily Daniel - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-09-19
  • Audio Recording
    Alfred Quijance, Fisherman and Subsistence Harvester. Seldovia, Alaska. Alfred Quijance talks with documentarian Josh Wisneski for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council’s Occupational Folklife Project “Beyond the Breakwater: Gulf of Alaska Small Boat Fishermen.” He talks about growing up in the remote Alutiiq/Sugpiaq community of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island; learning about traditional Native American seining, fishing and harvesting; and leaving at age 13 to find work on fishing boats and canneries throughout…
    • Contributor: Alfred Quijance - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-09-12
  • Audio Recording
    April Matson, Pitt Stop Food Concession Manager, Ransomville Speedway. Ransomville, New York. April Matson, Manager of the Pitt Stop food concession at the legendary Ransomville Speedway, a family-owned dirt track racecourse in western New York, talks with folklorist Edward Millar about her job, about why food is such an important part of the Speedway experience, and about preparing popular local specialties — including ‘flat dogs’ and hand cut fries.
    • Contributor: April Matson - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-09-05
  • Audio Recording
    David Swett, Owner, Swett’s Restaurant. Nashville, Tennessee. David Swett, the owner of Swett’s Restaurant, a family-owned establishment and culinary landmark in Nashville, Tennessee since 1954, talks with documentarian Candacy Taylor about running an African American family business, working in the food industry and his pride in Swett’s history as part of her larger project “The Green Book: Documenting African American Entrepreneurs.”
    • Contributor: David Sweet - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-08-29
  • Audio Recording
    Jeremy Presar, Rural Mail Carrier, US Postal System. Bukhannon, Kentucky. Jeremy Presar is a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service based out of the French Creek, West Virginia Post Office. Now in his sixth year as a mail carrier, he tells folklorist Emily Hilliard about his 70-mile route, delivering to 600 mailboxes, the challenges posed by animals, weather and being bi-racial in a largely White area as well as the pride he takes…
    • Contributor: Jeremy Presar - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-03-28
  • Audio Recording
    Shanda Dunn, Peer Support Worker, Voices of Hope. Lexington, Kentucky. Shanda Dunn of Lexington, Kentucky, talks with folklorist Ethan Sharp about being a Peer Support Worker as part of his larger Occupational Folklife Project “Hope for Recovery.” Shanda explains how she overcame her own complicated past and struggles with substance abuse to train and now, to work alongside clinicians as a counselor for others recovering from substance abuse disorders.
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Shanda Dunn
    • Date: 2024-03-21
  • Audio Recording
    Jobie Hill, Restoration Architect and Founder of SavingSlaveHouses.org. Iowa City, Iowa. Jobie Hill, an architect and historic preservation specialist from Iowa City, Iowa, explains how her interest in her own African American heritage led her to become an expert on the documentation, preservation, and repurposing of slave dwellings throughout the United States. She talks about her training and professional experiences as an architect and what inspired her to document more than 700 structures built by…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Jobie Hill
    • Date: 2024-03-14
  • Audio Recording
    Barbara Norman, Blueberry farmer. Covert, Michigan. Barbara Norman, a blueberry farmer from Covert, Michigan, speaks with oral historian Anna-Lisa Cox about growing up on her family’s farm as part a larger Occupational Folklife Project documenting “Multigenerational African-Descended Farmers of the Midwest.”
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Barbara Norman
    • Date: 2024-03-07
  • Audio Recording
    Leah Chase, Chef and Owner of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. New Orleans, Louisiana. Leah Chase, chef and owner of the legendary Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in New Orleans talks with documentarian Candacy Taylor in her bustling restaurant for the Occupational Folklife Project “The Green Book: Documenting African American Entrepreneurs.” More than just a James Beard award-winning eating establishment, Dooky Chase’s has served patrons that range from Presidents to Civil Rights leaders and celebrities to Louisianans in search of…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Leah Chase - Candacy Taylor
    • Date: 2024-02-29
  • Audio Recording
    Jerry Bransford, Park Ranger. Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Jerry Bransford, a seasonal tour guide at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, tells folklorist Brent Bjorkman how his family’s multi-generational history with the cave led him to become a guide after retiring from a successful corporate career. Members of his family began working as cave guides in the 1830s. Like many of the early guides, they were African Americans and through their knowledge, they…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Jerry Bransford
    • Date: 2024-02-22
  • Audio Recording
    Damon Walker, Luthier. Durham, North Carolina. Damon Walker, a “luthier” or string instrument maker in Durham, North Carolina, talks about his work making and fixing double or ‘upright’ basses with folklorists Katy Clune and Julia Gartell as part of their Occupational Folklife Project “Fixing, Mending, Making New: North Carolina’s Repair Professionals.” Mr. Walker – or “Dr. Bass” as he is widely known in the business – explains how his love…
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Damon Walker
    • Date: 2024-02-08
  • Audio Recording
    Marcus Wimby, Funeral Home Director. Atlanta, Georgia. Marcus Wimby, Director of Haugabrooks Funeral Home in Atlanta, Georgia, talks about his work and career. For more than 90 years, Haugabrooks has been a mainstay of Atlanta’s African American community. Mr. Wimby – a relation to Ms. Geneva Haugabrooks, the dynamic woman who founded the multi-generational business in 1929 — was interviewed by documentarian Candacy Taylor for her Occupational Folklife Project “The Green…
    • Contributor: Marcus Wimby - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2024-02-02
  • Audio Recording
    Seymour Ray (“Ray Idol”). Independent Professional Wrestler. Bristol, Tennessee. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with the independent professional wrestler Seymour Ray – a respected athlete who is widely known by his professional name: “Ray Idol.” He was interviewed at his home in Bristol, Tennessee, by folklorist Delainey Bowers as part of her project documenting “Independent Professional Wrestlers in Central Appalachia.”
    • Contributor: Delainey Bowers - Nancy Groce - Seymour Ray
    • Date: 2023-04-27
  • Audio Recording
    Susan Morelli, Physician/Neonatologist. Provo, Utah. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with Dr. Susan Morelli, a neonatologist and geneticist who works in Provo, Utah. She was interviewed by folklorist Lisa Gabbert as part of a larger project on “Doctoring,” which documents the training, daily routines, work environments, personal motivations, occupational folklore and humor of contemporary American physicians.
    • Contributor: Lisa Gabbert - Nancy Groce - Susan Morelli
    • Date: 2023-04-20
  • Audio Recording
    Mike Williams. Dirt Track Auto Racer. Tuscarora Nation, New York. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with Mike Williams, a dirt track auto racer at the famed Ransomville Speedway in western New York. He was interviewed at his home on the Tuscarora Nation by folklorist Edward Millar from the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University.
    • Contributor: Edward Millar - Mike Williams - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2023-04-13
  • Audio Recording
    Rosemaire Francis-Primo. Home Healthcare Aide. Brooklyn, NY. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with Rosemarie Francis-Primo, a home healthcare aide in Brooklyn, New York. She is a proud member of Domestic Workers United, an advocacy organization that represents Caribbean, Latina, and African nannies, housekeepers, homeworkers, and caregivers in metropolitan New York.
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Christine Lewis - Christopher Mulé - Rosemarie Francis-Primo - Patricia Francois
    • Date: 2023-04-06
  • Audio Recording
    Joyce Godbout, Dairy Farm Herdsperson. Burke, New York. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with Joyce Godbout, a dairy farm manager or herdsperson for the Vincent Farm in Burke, New York. She was interviewed for the Library by folklorist Jill Breit as part of the Library’s Occupational Folklife Project documenting “Dairy Farm Workers in New York’s North Country.”
    • Contributor: Nancy Groce - Jill Breit - Joyce Godbout
    • Date: 2023-03-30
  • Audio Recording
    Luann Miller, Grocery Store Cashier. Seattle, Washington. This is AFC staff folklorist Nancy Groce and this America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with grocery store cashier Luann Miller, who over the past three decades has worked just about every job there is in the grocery business – from shelf re-stocker, to cashier to bagger. When interviewed by folklorist Deborah Fant for the Washington State Workers project, Miller was…
    • Contributor: Deborah Fant - Nancy Groce - Luann Miller
    • Date: 2023-03-23
  • Audio Recording
    Tina Moore Braimah. Certified Nurse Midwife. Raleigh North Carolina. This America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview Tina Moore Braimah, a Certified Nurse Midwife and the founder of Sankofa Birth & Women’s Care in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was interviewed by folklorists Josephine McRobbie and Joseph O’Connell as part of their Occupational Folklife Project on “Midwives, Doulas, and Birth Workers,” which documented the training, daily routines, experiences, rewards and challenges of…
    • Contributor: Josephine McRobbie - Tina Moore Braimah - Joseph O'Connell - Nancy Groce
    • Date: 2023-03-16
  • Audio Recording
    Jude Bejarano. Cement Plant Worker, Evansville, Pennsylvania. This America Works episode features excerpts from a longer interview with cement plant worker Jude Bejarano, who was interviewed by historian Vyta Pivo as part of a project documenting the occupational culture of Cement Workers in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The Lehigh Valley is considered “the birthplace of the American cement industry.” Its enormous cement plants, like the one in Evansville where Mr. Bejarano works,…
    • Contributor: Vyta Pivo - Nancy Groce - Jude Bejarano
    • Date: 2023-03-09
  • Audio Recording
    Komla “Sam” Ewu, Meatpacking Plant Worker. Beardstown, Illinois West African immigrant Komla Ewu tells oral historian John McKerley about how he left a prestigious but unprofitable teaching career in his native Togo to pursue the American dream. He talks about how he raised the funds needed to pay his way to the U.S., how he found work on the “picnic line” in a giant Midwestern meatpacking plant – (one of America’s most…
    • Contributor: John McKerley - Nancy Groce - Komla “sam” Ewu
    • Date: 2022-03-10