American Folklife Center collections from Oregon document the diversity of its expressive culture. Among its unique collections are documentation of native folk traditions of many Indian cultural groups, collections of Jewish folklife, Anglo-American fiddle tunes, Chinese puppetry, and occupational groups.

In this video, home health care worker Neftali Garcia of Salem, Oregon, talks with labor historian Michael Robert Bussel and interpreter Sonia De La Cruz, June 18, 2015. He explains how his journey from Mexico to the United States to find help for his deaf son led to an occupation as a health care worker. Part of Taking care—documenting the occupational culture of home care workers: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2014-2015.

Taking Care—Documenting the Occupational Culture of Home Care Workers

In 2014, Professor Bob Bussel and his colleagues at the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center in Eugene, Oregon, received an Archie Green Fellowship to conduct oral history interviews with workers who provide home-based care for the elderly and the disabled in the state of Oregon. Bussel and his team worked closely with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 503, to record 35 interviews with home health care workers, an occupation that was not previously represented in the AFC archive. The collection’s interviews with home health care workers took place primarily in the workers’ homes and at the offices of SEIU, Local 503 in Eugene, Portland, and Salem, Oregon as well at as the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union office in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Additional Collections of Interest

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.