Oral history interview with Cynthia Sykes Cook, February 19, 1994
Subtitle: interview K-0091, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Pawlewicz, Valerie, 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; Women employees; Furniture industry and trade; Employees; Social life and customs; Plant shutdowns; Women; Employment; White Furniture Company
Other titles: Interview K-0091, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Cynthia Sykes Cook, February 19, 1994; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Cynthia Sykes Cook started work at the White Furniture Factory in Mebane, NC, in 1980 and stayed there until the factory closed in 1993. Cook had a college degree and worked in a variety of positions in the factory office, including sales and the creation of manuals for furniture assembly. Cook describes some of the elements of these jobs, but she focuses on the plant's closing, which preceded this interview by only eight months. Cook remains upset about it: the interviewer stops the tape once when she begins crying. Cook believes that the factory was an essential part of town life. Its loss was a devastating shock that as time passed, revealed its importance in providing an environment where workers could cultivate friendships. That kind of a workplace no longer exists, Cook believes.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on March 12, 2008).

Interview participants: Cynthia Sykes Cook, interviewee; Valerie Pawlewicz, interviewer

Duration: 00:47:02.

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. 88.4 kilobytes,  90.3 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0091, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jackie Gorman. Original transcript: 20 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.