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Oral history interview with Barbara Hanks, August 10, 1994 interview K-0098, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). Cover Image E-book

Oral history interview with Barbara Hanks, August 10, 1994 interview K-0098, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Interview K-0098, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) (other title)
Interview with Barbara Hanks, August 10, 1994 (portion title)
Hanks, Barbara 1960- (interviewee). Huber, Patrick (interviewer). Southern Oral History Program. (Added Author). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project) (Added Author). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. (Added Author).

Summary: Barbara Hanks followed her father into the furniture industry, taking a job in the mid-1980s in the rub and pack department of the White Furniture Company. In this interview, she describes her career there, which saw her earn a position as an inspector, but ended when the company closed. Hanks describes the furniture finishing process, including sanding and oiling pieces to a shine, and recalls the challenges of her role as sole inspector. But more significantly, she describes the atmosphere on the factory floor and the way the factory brought workers together into an environment where they could build relationships with one another. Those relationships, and an older model of work, ended when the factory closed around 1993. At its core, this interview is about the dissolution of the social elements of working and the erosion of one community united by the sound of the factory whistle.

Electronic resources

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Record details

  • Physical Description: electronic resource
    remote
    1 online resource
  • Edition: Electronic edition
  • Publisher: [Chapel Hill, N.C.] : University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2007.

Content descriptions

General Note:
Duration: 01:10:57.
Interview participants: Barbara Hanks, interviewee; Patrick Huber, interviewer.
Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Title from menu page (viewed on February 12, 2008).
Type of Computer File or Data Note:
Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 138.8 kilobytes, 129 megabytes.
Original Version Note:
Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0098, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jackie Gorman. Original transcript: 36 p.
Funding Information Note:
Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.
System Details Note:
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.

Search for related items by subject

Subject:
Hanks, Barbara 1960- Interviews
Hickory White Company.
White Furniture Company.
Factory inspection North Carolina Mebane
Furniture finishing North Carolina Mebane
Furniture industry and trade North Carolina Mebane
Furniture workers North Carolina Mebane Interviews
Furniture workers North Carolina Mebane Social life and customs
Plant shutdowns North Carolina Mebane
Women Employment North Carolina 20th century
Genre:
Oral histories.
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