America Works cover art

America Works

America Works

Written by: Library of Congress
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About this listen

 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
  • Carrington Doolittle Pertalion. Certified Nurse Midwife. Boone, North Carolina.

    Carrington Doolittle Pertalion. Certified Nurse Midwife. Boone, North Carolina.
    Feb 26 2026

    Carrington Doolittle Pertalion, a Certified Nurse Midwife from Boone, North Carolina, tells folklorist Josephine McRobbie how she transitioned from working as in commercial fishing to midwifery and the challenges and rewards of her careers during an interview for McRobbie’s Occupational Folklife Project on “Midwives, Doulas and Birth Workers in North Carolina.”
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    6 mins
  • Mark Harris. Clinical Anesthesiologist. Salt Lake City, Utah.

    Mark Harris. Clinical Anesthesiologist. Salt Lake City, Utah.
    Feb 19 2026

    Dr. Mark Harris, a clinical anesthesiologist in Salt Lake City, Utah, talks with folklorist Lisa Gabbert about his job and how he and his colleagues use humor as a coping mechanism to ease stress and anxieties in interactions with his patients as part of her Occupational Folklife Project on “Doctoring: The Occupational Folklore of Physicians.”
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    6 mins
  • Diane Imrie. Hospital Nutritionist. Burlington, Vermont.

    Diane Imrie. Hospital Nutritionist. Burlington, Vermont.
    Feb 12 2026

    Diane Imrie, a registered dietician and hospital nutritionist who works as Director of Nutrition at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont, talks about why she loves her job and with folklorist Andy Kolovos for Vermont Folklife Center’s excellent Occupational Folklife Project on “Grass-Roots Agriculture in Vermont.”
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    6 mins
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