July 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce its receipt of a prestigious Archie Green Fellowship from the Library of Congress to support a year-long effort to document shore-side workers in New Bedford/Fairhaven.

Archie Green (1917-2009) was a pioneering folklorist who championed the establishment of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and who was awarded the Library’s Living Legend Award and honored in the Congressional Record [pdf].  Green documented and analyzed the culture and traditions of American workers and encouraged others to do the same. Archie Green Fellowships are designed to stimulate innovative research projects documenting occupational culture in contemporary America.  This year, Archie Green Fellowships went to four teams of researchers in four different regions of the country.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center received support for “Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront.” Folklorist and Director Laura Orleans, working with anthropologists, Madeleine Hall-Arber and Corinn Williams, oral historian, Fred Calabretta and photographer, Phil Mello will conduct a large ethnographic field project interviewing approximately 60 shore-side workers involved in the local commercial fishing industry. The project will focus on recording oral histories about rarely documented occupational skills, knowledge, and trades including: marine electronics and engine repair; fish processing, packing, and trucking; the design and manufacture of fishing gear; work in ice plants and on fuel barges; offloading of fish and scallops; the seafood auction, settlement houses; and shipyard work.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to telling the story of the fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs, and archives. For more information, contact the Center at 508-993-8894 or info@fishingheritagecenter.org