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Mary Brown

Mary Brown

Mary Brown grew up in Blaine, Washington and got her first job as a cannery worker in 1976 on the slime line at Alaska Packer Association's cannery in Larsen Bay, Alaska. She continued to be a summer seasonal employee at canneries in southwestern Alaska, including for tanner crab and shrimp at Dutch Harbor, packing eggs at Uganik, and as a receptionist, expeditor, mail clerk, and laundry worker at <NN> Cannery in South Naknek. In 1981, Mary married a local fisherman, Bill Brown, and settled in the community, where she continued to work for canneries and participate in local fishing.
Mary Brown appears in the following new Jukebox projects:
Interview Title Abstract Archive #: Oral History Project Date of Interview
Mary Brown

Mary Brown was interviewed on June 11, 2018 by Anjuli Grantham at the Bristol Bay Historical Society’s museum in Naknek, Alaska. In this interview, Mary talks about her experience working in various Alaska canneries starting in 1976, and most specifically about working at the <NN> Cannery at South Naknek, Alaska. She talks about the different types of jobs she did, including on the slime line, in the Egg House, in the office and the laundry, different types of workers and how they got along with each other, and segregation among the work force. She describes the cannery, including the mess hall, the bunkhouses, and the hospital. She also discusses the system of mail delivery, work hours, the local fishermen, the economics of the fishery and fish prices, and the shift in ownership from Alaska Packers Association (APA) to Trident Seafoods.

 2018-13-01 NN Cannery History Jun 11, 2018