Audio Listen to Cathy Wurzer's interview with the photographer Photos Rest break on a hot day, Acme Foundry. Pouring molten steel, Acme Foundry. Welder, Toro. View full slideshow (12 images) Respond to this story Talk about this story in the MPR News Forum Submit a commentary Help us cover this story

Minnesota's factory workers in pictures
by Cathy Wurzer, Minnesota Public Radio
November 25, 2002

Rest break on a hot day, Acme Foundry. (Reproduced with permission of the Minnesota Historical Society.)

Local photographer David Parker is out with a new collection of pictures of Minnesota factory workers. Parker traveled to 20 different factories, from the Ford plant in St. Paul to the Potlatch paper mill in Cloquet and the Toro engine manufacturer in Windom. With black-and-white film, he captured the workers he met, their jobs and their environments. The pictures are collected in a book called By These Hands: Portraits from the Factory Floor and displayed in a new exhibit at the James J. Hill House in St. Paul. Parker says the project is an extension of his work as an occupational health and safety physician. And, he says, it's a celebration of the genius of the American worker.

St. Paul, Minn. — By These Hands: Portraits from the Factory Floor ($24.95 paperback, ISBN 0-87351-442-4) is published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press and is available at bookstores or direct at 800-621-2736.

News Headlines

Related Subjects