This project examines social capital in Addison County, and looks specifically at town clerks as key agents in the formation and preservation of this social connectedness. Oral histories of current and retired town clerks shed light on how exchange relationships are created, maintained, and deconstructed over time. Bourdieu's theory of individual social capital and Putnam's theory of communal social capital are used to understand the complexity of exchange relationships in Addison County. Town clerks are analyzed as soft bureaucrats and emotional laborers, demonstrating their integral role in cultivating social capital. The professionalization of the town clerk and the de-personalization of town government processes are eroding social capital—relationships that town clerks value and work hard to foster. Yet, this project ends on a hopeful note; town clerks have the capacity to exist as both emotional and professional beings, while participating in the construction of social capital in their respective towns.