America Works

Funeral director Heather Campbell Hill of the Renaissance Funeral Home in Raleigh, North Carolina is interviewed by folklorist Sarah Bryan as part of an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to document funeral services workers in the Carolinas. Although relatively new to her profession, Heather’s dedication and compassion to help people during, as she says, “the worst times of their lives,” is reflected throughout her interview. She talks about learning her profession, Death Cafes, Green Burials, and facing the unknown. A note to listeners: although not explicit, Heather’s interview does include discussions of death, bereavement and funerals.

Fish net maker Sarah Fortin was working for Reidar’s Trawl & Scallop Gear Marine Supply in New Bedford, Massachusetts when she was interviewed by oral historian Fred Calabretta from the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center as part of an American Folklife Center funded Archie Green Fellowship project. Fortin, who grew up in the community, talks about learning her trade, the skills she needed to master, and the challenges she sometimes faces as a younger female worker. She also told us about the vibrant community of fellow workers who continue to make New Bedford one of America’s most important and vibrant fishing ports.

Originally from upstate New York, Patrick Bovenzi has spent his entire career as a race track worker, rising through the ranks to hold numerous official positions at race tracks across this country. Today, he is one of America’s very few “horse identifiers” – i.e., an expert who can assess and certify the identity of individual race horses. Mr. Bovenzi was interviewed by folklorist and Archie Green Fellow Ellen McHale at the Tampa Bay Downs Racetrack in Tampa Bay, Florida, on behalf of the American Folklife Center as part of her documentation project “Stable Views: Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Race Track.”

Chicago-based folklorist Bucky Halker interviews iron worker Sharon Sisson and her husband, iron worker Richard Sisson about their experiences as iron workers in the Chicago area. Their interview, which was recorded at Iron Workers Union Local #63 Headquarters in Broadview, Illinois, covers numerous topics. This episodes features Sharon’s experiences as a woman entering a previously male-dominated trade and a prank she played on a fellow worker to stop him harassing her in their workplace.

Shuly Amsel, an accomplished wig maker from Brooklyn, New York, talks about her successful wig and beauty business. She explains how she learned the trade and expanded her business from a small home-based shop primarily serving the women in her own Orthodox Jewish Community, to a high-profile business creating top-quality wigs and beauty products for celebrities and the fashion industry.

Houston shipyard owner Richard Bludworth of Bludworth Marine talks about growing up in his family’s shipyard, learning his complex trade, and the community of maritime workers that make Houston one of the world’s largest and most vibrant ports. A fine story teller, he relates some great on-the-job experiences, his love of the sea, why he likes working with “pirates,” and his pride in his home city of Houston. Bludworth is one of more than 50 Houston ship channel workers interviewed for the OFP “Working the Port of Houston.”

Joyce Vegar, a dedicated home health care worker from Coos County, Oregon, talks about her pride and pleasure as well as her challenges in helping her clients remain in their own homes and communities. Vegar is one of more than 40 home health care workers interviewed by University of Oregon researchers for the “Taking Care” OFP collection. This moving episode highlights the enormous and over unheralded contributions made by workers in this under-documented profession.

Gold mine worker Greg Vaught tells folklorists Meg Glaser and Charlie Seemann from the Western Folklife Center about how he came to work at a gold mine and his various mine jobs, including being the mine safety officer. He explains how he started using his musical talents to write humorous songs about mine safety and has become Newmont mining’s unofficial “Safety Troubadour.” And he sings an example of his work!

Jeff Hafler, hair stylist and owner of The Beauty Bubble Hair Salon and Museum in Wonder Valley, California, talks to interviewer Candacy Taylor about how much he loves his job, how beauty salons function as impromptu community centers, and why customers confide in their stylists. He talks about his pride in working in the service industry and explains why having a vocation is often a better guarantee of employment than a college degree.

Barbara Miller Byrd, the third-generation owner of the Carson and Barnes Circus based in the small town of Hugo, Oklahoma, talks about growing up in the traveling circus founded by her grandparents more than 75 years ago. She shares great memories and stories and offers in-sights into the colorful and complex occupations that are needed to sustain a traveling circus in contemporary America.