Abby Epplett, Historian

In July 2025, I visited Coggeshall Farm Museum . Located inside Colt State Park in Bristol, RI, the late 18 th century historic farm has been associated with Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) since 2020. The 48-acre farmstead has been interpreted to the 1790s, not long after the American Revolutionary War and also known as the Federalist Era. My visit took place on a sunny summer day with perfect weather, happy animals, and friendly museum staff.

I was not sure what to write to go along with this animatic, which is the culmination of many months of work. I had originally begun an essay about the history of computer programs used to create my animatic. While the essay was certainly interesting, especially for technology geeks, it did not seem in line with my other essays in this series. I have decided instead to keep this essay as simple as possible and instead offer a brief summary of what I have learned so far. During my research of global histories and cultures, creating illustrations, and composing music, I have amassed a vast amount of knowledge and a wide-ranging skill set that I would not have thought possible at the beginning of the project. I have uncovered delightful stories and fun facts during this journey. For some highlights, I enjoyed learning about traditional clothing worn by Manchus, which partially inspired my depiction of Dunlending culture and took a MasterClass on voice acting presented by Nanc...

I recently inherited a signed copy of the book Honor the Past Celebrate the Future: A Historical Overview of the Blackstone River Valley, Massachusetts written by David White and published by the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2005. Since the book is celebrating its 20 th birthday, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to not only see what it teaches the reader but also how our understanding of history has changed in the past two decades. The book is divided into eight sections and not only explores how revolution and industry shaped the region but offers a snapshot of important local business from the time of its publication. The first section, “1 Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares” riffs on a line from the song “Amazing Grace”, reminding the reader how European colonization of the area was motivated in part by religion. Missionary John Eliot committed to converting Nipmuc people to Christianity, which allowed the colonists to more easily manipulate N...

I had originally intended this post to cover the Tolkien Society Seminar 2025 held online on Saturday, October 18. However, since the event took place from 4:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and I had already scheduled in-person history events for that day, I decided to watch the replays when these are posted to the Tolkien Society YouTube channel . Instead, I will talk about a mini documentary by the BBC-run YouTube channel HistoryExtra that I have been meaning to watch for seven months. The animatic is still scheduled to appear next week, and my discussion of the conference will appear after the recordings are posted to YouTube. Because of the YouTube algorithm demanding clickbait titles, the mini-documentary is called The REAL history behind Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and more . The host was James Osborne , a HistoryExtra employee who studied archaeology and has experience as an entertainment journalist. Like other mini documentaries produced by History...

On the same day I visited the Patriots Hall of Fame in Foxborough, MA , I took several walks at parks in the greater Foxborough area. I visited sites cared for by the Department of Conservation & Recreation in Massachusetts (DCR), the Trustees of Reservations, and Wildlands Trust of Brockton. Along the way, I discovered ruins in the woods, historic buildings, a massive tree, and a curious baby bird.

On a drizzly day in June, I had an adventure in the Massachusetts towns of Foxboro, Easton, and Brockton. My first stop was Patriots Hall of Fame , a shrine to the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL) . On a sunnier day back in June 2024, I had gone in the Gillette Stadium Lighthouse next to the museum, but I had never visited the Hall. As a lifelong football viewer who understands the game better than most but is less invested than ardent fans, this museum had been on my list for many years. The Hall combines artifacts from the history of the team with modern (although not always successful) interactives to balance a fanatic love of sports with a STEM curriculum. While not quite edutainment at its finest, this is an ideal way for a New Englander to spend a few hours.

As promised last week, this portion of the animated musical does not appear in the original text, nor in any of its drafts. Thus far, I have used few creative licenses during my adaption. Costumes and architecture rely on historical designs and the original text. “The Introduction Song” and “The Want Song” were summaries of what appeared in the Prologue, Appendixes, and “Book I, Chapter 1, The Long-Expected Party”, while “One Ring” and “The Road Goes Ever On” were taken nearly verbatim from the book. The one difference is the more obvious nature of my framing device , which features Elanor Gardner Fairbairn reading and editing the book as she chooses what will appear in the Red Book of Westmarch . Some scenes from this hypothetical original manuscript will not make her cut.

I recently listened to the short podcast We the Museum: A Podcast about Museum Workers hosted by Hannah Hethmon. Previously, Hethmon hosted the podcast, Museums in Strange Places , while her newest show is Huminites Equal for the Federation of State Humanities Councils . I will add these podcasts to my ever-growing listening list. Meanwhile, the fifteen episodes of We the Museum discussed current topics including museum unionization, social media stardom, and exhibits curated by historically excluded communities.

This is the 500 th post on my blog! Today, I will talk about the last stop during my adventure in Milton, MA. I visited Blue Hills Reservation , a park managed by the Department of Conservation & Recreation in Massachusetts (DCR), which includes Blue Hills Trailside Museum managed by Mass Audubon and independent Blue Hills Observatory & Science Center .

In this essay accompanying my next instrumental, available at the end of the post, I am discussing the music of the three licensed versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings : the Rankin/Bass version, the Ralph Bakshi version, and the Peter Jackson version. From my understanding, while other versions exist, the Tolkien Estate did not approve them. While my own hypothetical animated musical likewise does not have approval, it also is not intended for commercial purposes, as detailed in my discussion on fair use back in the project introduction . Other musicians and performance groups who have written their own music or song cycles to be performed independently during a concert or on an album, rather than as a part of a musical score, will be discussed in a future essay.