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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 Mebane, North Carolina. 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.

From rubbing and packing, on to inspection

Anxiety on the first day of work

The rubbing process

A sense of camaraderie at White Furniture Company

White Furniture Factory as a community institution

Remembering work at White Furniture Factory

Employers favor younger employees

Coworkers bond over snacks

Point system for evaluating conduct

Cameraderie and joking on the job

Effects of a factory closing

Little camaraderie at new job

Remembering the factory whistle

Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection

Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews

Furniture industry and trade--North Carolina

Furniture workers--North Carolina

White Furniture Company

North Carolina--Social conditions

Women--Employment--North Carolina--History--20th century

Hanks, Barbara, 1960-