America Works cover art

America Works

America Works

By: Library of Congress
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 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. Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Patrick Palmer, Owner-operator Thornapple Farm and Draft Trash. New Haven, Vermont.

    Patrick Palmer, Owner-operator Thornapple Farm and Draft Trash. New Haven, Vermont.
    Jun 5 2025

    Patrick Palmer, the owner-operator of Thornapple Farm and Draft Trash in New Haven, Vermont, talks about his horse-based trash collecting business with documentarian Virgina Nickerson for the Occupational Folklife Project’s “Trash Talk: Workers in Vermont’s Waste Management Industry.”
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    6 mins
  • Bill Favaro, Favaro’s Rod & Reel Repair Shop. Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

    Bill Favaro, Favaro’s Rod & Reel Repair Shop. Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
    May 29 2025

    Bill Favaro, who, with his brother Sam is the owner and proprietor of Favaro’s Rod & Reel Repair Shop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, talks with folklorist Douglas Manger about how his business developed during the 1940s when Mr. Favaros’ father–(Hypolite Favaro, Sr.) –sold fishing rods and other fishing related items at his Esso gas station. He was interviewed for the Occupational Folklife Project Baton Rouge Small Businesses and Trades.
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    6 mins
  • Juan Salcido Sanchez, Racetrack Groom. Palm Meadows Training Facility, Boynton Beach, Florida.

    Juan Salcido Sanchez, Racetrack Groom. Palm Meadows Training Facility, Boynton Beach, Florida.
    May 22 2025

    Juan Salcido Sanchez, who like his father before him, works behind-the-scenes at leading racetracks throughout the United States as a groom and caretaker for elite racehorses, talks with folklorist Ellen McHale at the Palm Meadows Training Facility in Boynton Beach, Florida, as part of her Occupational Folklife Project “Stable Views–Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack.”
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    6 mins

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