Abby Epplett, Historian

America250 , the non-profit organization created by Congress in a vain attempt to celebrate the Semiquincentennial in a way everyone would like, just released the first volume of a soundtrack for the celebration , albeit twelve days after the event actually took place. The album was produced by multiple Grammy Award-winning musician and producer Emilio Estefan and includes songs from a wide scope of American music. I will look at the history of these songs and give my opinion on its success as an album.

This week is the Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026 , which takes place online and in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit is “Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union” as part of the 250 th anniversary celebration for the United States. During this Summit, I’ll be watching sessions across multiple tracks from the comfort of my home office and sharing a quick summary of each. This conference is free! Anyone can sign up if they wish to hear these talks. In Part 1 , I discussed sessions on poetry, digital tools and games, and storybooks. In Part 2, I will cover oral histories, storytelling, and civic engagement for the next generation.

This week is the Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026 , which takes place online and in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit is “Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union” as part of the 250 th anniversary celebration for the United States. During this Summit, I’ll be watching sessions across multiple tracks from the comfort of my home office and sharing a quick summary of each. This conference is free! Anyone can sign up if they wish to hear these talks.

This instrumental introduces the “fathers of the fathers of the Stoors”, the character of Sméagol/Gollum, and the death of Déagol at the hands of Sméagol after discovering the Ring. During this instrumental, I introduce a new percussion motif to represent Stoors and related hobbit-kind, along with referencing previously used themes to create a complex musical landscape.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. The first part described the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station. In the second part , I focused on Saranac Dam Overlook, the Blackstone River Greenway in Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park, Blackstone Block, the Civil War memorial, the post office, and Veteran’s Memorial Corner. In the third part, I will see churches, a former school, a former railroad-related commercial building station, and an anti-pollution plaque.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. The first part  described the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station. This second part will focus on Saranac Dam Overlook, the Blackstone River Greenway in Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park, Blackstone Block, the Civil War memorial, the post office, and Veteran’s Memorial Corner.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. This first stop will describe the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station.

Back in May 2026, I returned once again to Stephens-Coolidge House & Gardens , managed by the Trustees of Reservations in North Andover, MA for a fun, festive event: Spring BloomFest . Having gone to Winterlights in December 2024 and a regular day trip in September 2025 , I had already learned much about the house and gardens, which can be covered in those blog posts. After some deliberation on how to describe this beautiful adventure, I decided to write a brief explanation and then share a photo gallery at the end.

Frodo was originally incredulous that Gollum, also called Sméagol, could be “of hobbit-kind”, even as Gandalf explained how he was likely related to “the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors”, the ancestors of the Brandybucks and other hobbits in Buckland and the East Farthing. As mentioned many months ago when discussing the three breeds of hobbits , this group had distinctive features. They were broad and strong, enjoyed boating along the river, and may have had unusually blue eyes. However, their culture was distinct from that of their distant relatives in the Shire. They appeared to respect matriarchal authority rather than patriarchal, and they built boats of reeds rather than wood. In this essay, I’m going to explore those differences and how they inspired my design of Sméagol and his relatives.

My trip to the Book Barn of Niantic, CT back in 2024 is the gift that keeps on giving, as I finally completed another book purchased during that trip. I recently finished reading Mongols, Huns & Vikings written by Hugh Kennedy , a British medievalist and professor emeritus at SOAS University of London, edited by John Keegan, and published by Cassel & Co (which has since become self-publishing services Cassel Publishers ) as part of Cassel’s History of Warfare series in 2002. (As a further publishing history note, twelve of the potentially twenty-three books appear to have been picked up by Smithsonian for its seemingly out-of-print History of Warfare series, but this book was not one of them.) Best described as an intellectual coffee table book, this 8" by 10 3/4" volume combines historical research with high resolution, full color images of the artwork, artifacts, and landscapes affected by nomadic peoples from Eurasian history. The blend of beautiful pictures...