Episodes

  • Emily Daniels, Agricultural Pilot. South Hampton, New Jersey.

    Emily Daniels, Agricultural Pilot. South Hampton, New Jersey.
    Sep 19 2024
    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.
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    6 mins
  • Alfred Quijance, Fisherman and Subsistence Harvester. Seldovia, Alaska.

    Alfred Quijance, Fisherman and Subsistence Harvester. Seldovia, Alaska.
    Sep 12 2024
    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 the state of Alaska.
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    6 mins
  • April Matson, Pitt Stop Food Concession Manager, Ransomville Speedway. Ransomville, New York.

    April Matson, Pitt Stop Food Concession Manager, Ransomville Speedway. Ransomville, New York.
    Sep 5 2024
    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.
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    6 mins
  • David Swett, Owner, Swett’s Restaurant. Nashville, Tennessee.

    David Swett, Owner, Swett’s Restaurant. Nashville, Tennessee.
    Aug 29 2024
    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.”
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    6 mins
  • Jeremy Presar, Rural Mail Carrier, US Postal System. Bukhannon, Kentucky.

    Jeremy Presar, Rural Mail Carrier, US Postal System. Bukhannon, Kentucky.
    Mar 28 2024
    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 in working for America’s “vital lifeline.”
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    7 mins
  • Shanda Dunn, Peer Support Worker, Voices of Hope. Lexington, Kentucky.

    Shanda Dunn, Peer Support Worker, Voices of Hope. Lexington, Kentucky.
    Mar 21 2024
    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.
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    6 mins
  • Jobie Hill, Restoration Architect and Founder of SavingSlaveHouses.org. Iowa City, Iowa.

    Jobie Hill, Restoration Architect and Founder of SavingSlaveHouses.org. Iowa City, Iowa.
    Mar 14 2024
    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 enslaved African Americans. The interview was conducted by documentarian Sarah Filkins as part of her Occupational Folklife Project on “Women Architects.”
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    7 mins
  • Barbara Norman, Blueberry farmer. Covert, Michigan.

    Barbara Norman, Blueberry farmer. Covert, Michigan.
    Mar 7 2024
    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.”
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    6 mins