Doors Unmarked: A Study of Custodial Professionalism in Photos

Abstract Blue-collar and manual labor is typified as unskilled and is, overall, devalued in American culture. I argue that workers in these careers are made socially “invisible” in popular culture based on the work they perform. I find that custodians are, in fact, professionals, and through their ability to perform their work with expertise and care, they also perform a unique type of customer service for their “customers.” Further, custodians also create strong professional networks for themselves while on the job. These networks serve as a vital support system, both professionally and personally. My study includes custodians who work at a large state university in Appalachia, with visual data in photographs. I expand my analysis of these workers to make connections to manual labor in general, in the United States.