Oral history interview with Ivey C. Jones, January 18, 1994
Subtitle: interview K-0101, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Cowie, Jefferson, interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Furniture workers; Plant shutdowns; Consolidation and merger of corporations; Furniture industry and trade; Management; Employees; Social life and customs; White Furniture Company
Other titles: Interview K-0101, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Ivey C. Jones, January 18, 1994; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Ivey C. Jones took a job at the White Furniture Factory in Mebane, NC, after high school and stayed there until new management closed the plant in 1993. In this interview, he recalls his sixteen years at the plant in a variety of positions, focusing on the period between the purchase of the factory by a competitor and the new owners' decision to shut it down. Jones's recollections emphasize an important change in one of the industries--in this case furniture--that have driven the economy of the North Carolina Piedmont for decades. The takeover of the White Furniture Factory brought a shift from a personal management style that responded to the needs of workers as community members to a more distant, profit-driven approach that put much greater stress on workers' economic contributions. Jones still resents this transition, which altered the atmosphere on the factory floor as demoralized employees, fearful for their jobs, struggled to meet escalating quotas. This interview highlights the fragility of the furniture industry and the workers' struggle to maintain both their economic security and their humanity in a changing economic region.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 18, 2008).

Interview participants: Ivey C. Jones, interviewee; Jeff Cowie, interviewer.

Duration: 01:38:01.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 176 kilobytes, 179 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0101, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jackie Gorman. Original transcript: 47 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.