The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress today launched its seventh season of “America Works,” an original podcast series that honors the creativity, resilience and dedication of the 168-million-strong American workforce. The new season focuses on workers whose jobs involve animals – from sustainable farmers to a fishing shop owner to a taxidermist, as well as a port sampler who measures fish and a trash hauler who uses draft horses.
The eight-episode series, part of the American Folklife Center’s ongoing Occupational Folklife Project, introduces audiences to a wide range of voices from the contemporary American workforce. Each episode, excerpted from a longer full-length oral history interview, runs approximately five minutes. Each includes workers’ narratives and observations that add to the rich tapestry of today’s American life. The first episode is available now on Apple Podcasts and at loc.gov/podcasts. Subsequent episodes will be released each Thursday through June 5th.
“For the new season, we wanted to feature interviews with Americans who jobs and careers involve animals or at least are ‘animal adjacent,’” said project director, folklorist and podcast host Nancy Groce. “From a racetrack groom in Florida to the owners of a Louisiana rod-and-reel shop to a woman who founded and directs a food bank for pets and their humans in North Dakota, Season 7 gives listeners insights into workers whose interactions with animals have an impact on America’s contemporary workscape.”
Here is a list of Season 7’s featured interviewees. The links below are to each speakers’ full Occupational Folklife Project interview. For direct links to each 5-minute America Works episode as it is released each Thursday, visit https://loc.gov/podcasts/america-works/.
The seventh season of “America Works” features:
Episode 1 – Master taxidermist Sonny Amato, who has been operating his successful taxidermy business in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for over 50 years, talks about learning and plying his trade.
Episode 2 – Natalie Ameral, a port sampler in the vital fishing port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, talks about her specialized job collecting and analyzing the species, sizes and genders of fish harvested by the port’s fishing fleet for the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and how her results are used to inform regulatory and environmental decisions.
Episode 3 – Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting, owners of Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, Vermont, talk about moving to Vermont in 1999 to become farmers; how their small business expanded into a diversified produce and livestock operation employing 18 workers; and how they are trying to move towards more humane and ecologically friendly farming.
Episode 4 – Joel Mashburn, a pharmacist in Hugo, Oklahoma—a small town that has been a “wintering over” spot for family-owned circuses for generations– is fascinated with circus elephants. He tells us how their medical needs occasionally intersect with his work life as a pharmacist.
Episode 5 – Alison Smith, founder and director of Addi’s Eats Pet Food and Supply Pantry, a food and resource bank that assists pets in Bismark, North Dakota, talks about providing support for pets and their humans facing hard times and challenging circumstances.
Episode 6 – 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 about the responsibilities and pleasures of working with thoroughbreds.
Episode 7 – Bill Favaro, who with his brother Sam is the owner and proprietor of Favaro’s Rod & Reel Repair Shop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, talks about his business and how it developed during the 1940s when his father–(Hypolite Favaro, Sr.) –sold fishing rods and other fishing related items as a sideline at his Esso gas station.
Episode 8 — Patrick Palmer, the owner-operator of Thornapple Farm and Draft Trash in New Haven, Vermont, talks about the challenges and rewards of his horse-based trash hauling business.
Each “America Works” episode is drawn from a longer interview from the American Folklife Center’s Occupational Folklife Project, a multi-year initiative created to document workforce culture. Since 2010, fieldworkers from the American Folklife Center have interviewed more than 2,100 workers, documenting their experiences in more than 100 professions. More than 1,200 of these full-length interviews are now available online and more are added regularly.
The first six seasons of “America Works,” launched in August 2020, April 2021, January 2022, March 2023, February 2024 and August 2024, respectively, are available on Apple Podcasts and at loc.gov/podcasts. To listen to a trailer for “America Works” and hear each Season 7 episode as they are posted on upcoming Thursdays throughout April, May and early June, visit: https://loc.gov/podcasts/america-works/.
About the American Folklife Center
The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to “preserve and present American folklife” through programs of research, documentation, archival presentation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training. The Center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, which was established in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of ethnographic material from the United States and around the world.
About the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.