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Workers and Their Jobs
Images courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Industry |
There were many jobs in the canneries. Workers were needed to prepare
the foods. This meant shucking oysters, peeling corn, or skinning
tomatoes. Other workers picked out all the bad produce. This was
usually done with the help of a conveyer belt. The food passed by on
the belt and workers inspected it for damages. Some people
experimented with different recipes. Tasters made sure the food tasted
just right.
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Many workers steamed the food in huge pressure cookers so it would
last longer. Others would mold cans and put them together. There
was a department upstairs for skilled workers who designed labels and
glued them on to the cans. These skilled jobs were usually given to
men. Other jobs involved packing and lifting heavy boxes. Still
other people worked in the cannery office. They were responsible for
paying the workers and keeping the books. These are just some of the
jobs found in the canneries.
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Look at Item #1, The Production Process, on your Life in the Canneries
Worksheet. From the description of the canning process given above,
fill in the chart. In the first column list the Natural Resources, like
fresh foods, that the canneries started with. In the second column,
list the Capital Resources, such as equipment, that the canneries needed
to process the food. In the third column, list the Human Resources,
such as skilled and unskilled workers, that were needed to process
foods. And in the fourth column, list the products that the canneries
produced.
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