Screenprint of a group of women in colorful coats, masks, hoods/hats, and teal aprons with a ghosted image of another woman behind them with arms up holding a protest sign. The phrases, “Homenaje a Dolores Huerta: 1965,” “Women’s Work is Never done,” and “California Broccoli Harvest: 1995” are written in gray at the left, bottom, and right margins.

America Works: Building and Sustaining the Nation

September 26 - December 13, 2026

Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery | Level 2

Work is central to American culture. What are you planning to do after you graduate? What do you do for a living? These are some of the most common questions we ask when we are getting to know someone. And for good reason—the work we do often deeply shapes our individual identity. However, the history of work and labor in the United States is fraught. The kind of work people perform, whether and how well it is compensated, and the social status or value assigned to that work is often related to their class, racial, and gender identities in ways that reinforce inequality.

America Works: Building and Sustaining the Nation traces the deep connections among work, power, and nation-building in the United States. The exhibition takes a broad approach to the definition of work, including historically unfree labor, traditionally visible work in manufacturing and the service industry, as well as less recognized, unpaid care work. Objects drawn from the collections of the Palmer Museum of Art and the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery highlight three major themes: how working conditions have differed by race, gender, and immigration status; the labor history of Pennsylvania and the role of unions; and the role of labor in nation building for the United States. While exploring the culture and politics of working people, America Works addresses how changes in technology, law and policy, and activism on the part of workers have impacted labor dynamics throughout history.

America Works was curated by faculty members Kate Ragon, Carla Lima Aranzaes, and Arthur Matthews from Penn State’s School of Labor and Employment Relations in the College of the Liberal Arts with support from Keri Mongelluzzo, Educator for Academic Engagement and Access.

Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art.