STORIES OF A WORKFORCE : CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL OF THE HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL was an exhibition mounted for the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the Houston Ship Channel. It was housed in the gallery of the beautiful and historic Julia Ideson Building.

Then, as now, the exhibition was an effort to make the Port of Houston better seen, better known and, especially, better heard. In relying on the voices of the men and women who work there, STORIES OF A WORKFORCE sought out the greatest ground-level experts -- the workers themselves -- to tell us their stories, to recount their experiences, and to share their recollections regarding an occupational setting that has been, like many other American workplaces, drastically transformed over the last several decades.

Thus, Stories of a Workforce was not a history exhibition but rather a group portrait of life and work on the Port over the last fifty or so years. The content of the exhibition has largely been drawn from interviews conducted between 2011 and 2014 with more than fifty individuals working in a wide range of occupations associated with the Houston Ship Channel. 

From ship to shore, from blue collar to white, from the docks to the boardrooms, these interviews were collected as part of a project funded by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. During this interviewing phase, the project was known by the title Working the Port. For access to the original interviews associated with Working the Port, contact the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Stories of a Workforce chose to commemorate the centennial of the Ship Channel by sharing and amplifying these combined voices and their enduring insights. It documented the important constants as well as the significant changes impacting the labor base and personnel that staffed it. 

Stories of a Workforce also explored the ways in which both knowledge has persisted and skill has been transformed in the work of these individuals to ensure the health of a dynamic economy and the diverse industries that reside along the Ship Channel.

Stories of a Workforce also allows us to listen to the memories of these working people, literally. And in their descriptions of work life, we found many surprising commonalities. In their words, the Ship Channel workforce repeatedly discussed their connections to community, relayed accounts of family tradition, stressed the importance of wielding new knowledge and old know-how in the workplace, and reported the struggles they have seen on the job and the changes they have all experienced as workers. In a sense, Stories of a Workforce is something of a collective autobiography of the Ship Channel from the very workers that this project had the honor to document.

Stories of a Workforce is a public project produced as a part of the Houston Folklife Collection. The work contained in the Houston Folklife Collection was produced by Folklorist Pat Jasper and Project Manager Angel Quesada, with assistance from a range of colleagues and the generous participation of Houstonians and citizens of surrounding communities. The creation of this website was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Program and University of Houston Special Collections.