Oral history interview with Andy Foley, May 18, 1994
Subtitle: interview K-0095, 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; Furniture industry and trade; Social life and customs; Plant shutdowns; White Furniture Company
Other titles: Interview K-0095, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Andy Foley, May 18, 1994; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Andy K. Foley made drawers for the White Furniture Company, but he did not stay on the job very long before the news came that the factory was going to close its doors. In this interview, he briefly describes his work routine and recalls his and his coworkers' responses to the closing. Like many of his coworkers, Foley worried a bit about his financial future, but his greatest concern was the dissolution of the friendships he formed on the job and as a member of the company softball team, and the loss of a fun work environment. This final element is the focus of this interview. Foley is an enthusiastic prankster, and he and his friends used the factory as a playground, playing jokes on one another and their coworkers. This sense of fun sustained him during a long period of unemployment, but he could not bring it to his new workplace, where horseplay is unwelcome. This interview emphasizes the unique, social atmosphere at the factory, drawing attention to a change that may have been echoed as North Carolina's industries endured challenging transitions in the 1980s and 1990s.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on February 12, 2008).

Interview participants: Andy Foley, interviewee; Jeff Cowie, interviewer.

Duration: 01:16:03.

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.

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

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 199 kilobytes, 139 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0095, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jackie Gorman. Original transcript: 42 p.

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

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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