Oral history interview with Frank Sidney Durham, September 10 and 17, 1979
Subtitle: interview H-0067, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: DeNatale, Douglas, 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: 2006
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Textile workers; Social life and customs; Textile factories; Management; Textile industry; Technological innovations; Company towns; Paternalism; String bands; Child labor; Chatham Rabbits (Musical group)
Other titles: Interview H-0067, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Frank Sidney Durham, September 10 and 17, 1979; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Frank Durham discusses how his family first came to work in the mills and describes other people they got to know there. Over the course of Durham's life, he followed his father's path, working his way up through the mill's supervisory ladder to become superintendent. His broad experience enables him to describe the inner workings of the mill, the ways management negotiated labor complaints with the employees, the social structure of the mill village, and the commonalities of mill town life. He also discusses many moments in employee life, including the ways they hazed new hires. As a part of community entertainment, many of the locals put together bands. Durham and some of his friends were in the Chatham Rabbits, and he proudly recalls how popular they were across the region. He describes how his parents disciplined them. Several of his relatives struggled with alcoholism and other addictions, and he discusses why such problems were common in mill towns. He ends the interview by talking about all the changes that have taken place since he started as a mill worker early in the century.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on May 9, 2008).

Interview participants: Frank Sidney Durham, interviewee; Douglas DeNatale, interviewer.

Duration: 01:46:52.

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 Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 242 kilobytes, 264 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, 1974-1980, interview H-0067, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 68 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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