Abby Epplett, Historian

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. On the third day of my trip, I visited Dexter Grist Mill in Sandwich, MA, located across the street from the Sandwich Glass Museum and next door to the Town Hall. This building is owned and maintained by the town just like Hoxie House , so the tour was of similarly high quality.

On Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24, I attended the two-day webinar, the Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference hosted by the Tolkien Society via Zoom. Past readers of the blog know that I am a big fan of conferences, both in-person and virtual, so this was a great opportunity to combine my love of intense learning events with my research for the hypothetical animated musical. Even as someone on the younger end of attendees, I felt right at home through the friendly chat, the generous speakers, and my extensive knowledge of the Legendarium. Here are my favorite highlights from each talk, minus anything that seemed to be proprietary information. Any mistakes are likely because I have been up since 4:45 a.m. watching this conference. For naming conventions, as said succinctly by James Tauber, “It’s become a common convention in Tolkien studies to use Tolkien to refer to the father and Christopher to refer to the son”, so I will do the same in this summary. Sa...

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. On the third day of my trip, I visited Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA run by the Sandwich Historical Society . This society has existed since 1907 and focuses on preserving the history of glassmaking on Cape Cod along with highlighting the work of modern artists and teaching members of the public how to create glass art.

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. A last minute diversion brought me to Christmas Tree Shop Hyannis, an incredible example of avant-garde architecture built by a recently defunct company. I last visited Christmas Tree Shop Sagamore while coming home from a trip to Yarmouth in 2023 , and I may need to visit the remaining stores.

At last, I arrive at the final section of the appendixes. After a hundred and fifty pages of comparing Middle-earth history to real-world history, I have an even stronger grasp of how Tolkien used his expertise as a philologist and historian to build a fantasy world rooted in fact. This will serve as a solid foundation for future research as I move into the dialog portion of the text and reveal vignettes for the hypothetical animated musical.

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. While visiting Cape Cod Maritime Museum and John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, I made so many quick history stops around the area that I have divided it into two parts. Yesterday, I covered Main Street , and today, I cover local art and some of the Kennedy Legacy Trail. A redbrick Art Path leading from Main Street down to the harbor guides visitors past sculptures and shanties housing tiny art shops. I loved the interactive sculpture Turn, Tern, Turn by Cotuit artist Eric M. Kaiser . A pair of metal seabirds connect to a metal base which visitors are encouraged to gently spin. A few steps away is Aselton Park, which includes the Buoyed Coasts  advocacy art installation created by Kate Kennen and portraits created by Kate DeCiccio . The colorful buoys attached to long metal rods symbo...

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. While visiting Cape Cod Maritime Museum and John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, I made so many quick history stops around the area that I have divided it into two parts. Today features Main Street, including the library, two churches, historical buildings, a train station, and public art. Tomorrow will feature the HyArts Artist Shanties and some of the Kennedy Legacy Trail.

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. My seventh stop was John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, a village of Barnstable. Located down the street from Cape Cod Maritime Museum , the museum showcased the life and presidency of U.S. President #35 and his family.

At last, I have arrived at the final appendix! Appendix F is divided into two parts with the first covering the languages spoken by the many peoples of Middle-earth during the Third Age, and the second covering Tolkien’s method of “translation” for those languages. Even to the end, Tolkien maintained his character as a typical early to mid-20 th century translator. Elvish and Mannish languages in Arda evolved along similar paths as real-world Indo-European languages with the development of a common speech, pidgins and creoles from the merger of two or more languages, categorization of languages as high or low based on the social status of the speakers, codeswitching and reappropriation of slurs, and languages falling out of use to become lost.

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. My sixth stop was Cape Cod Maritime Museum of Hyannis, MA, established in 1998 to share the history of the region. During this visit, I learned about boats, scrimshaw, lighthouses and their keepers, women of Cape Cod, and building the Cape Cod Canal.

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. Between major stops in Cotuit like Cotuit Historical Society and Cahoon Museum of American Art , I made several quick history stops. I visited Cotuit Library and nearby Cotuit Memorial Park, Cotuit Federated Church, Mariners Lodge, and Freedom Hall.

This week, I introduce the rest of the Maiar, each of whom represents part of the environment or a craft. This was no different than deities in real-world religions and mythologies, where ancient people believed that the sun, moon, and sea were sentient, while agriculture was controlled by a god, and smithing was taught to humans by a higher power. Many polytheist cultures have multiple gods with overlapping areas of rule. I have chosen to focus on those who appear to be the most popular and most powerful based on scholarly research. Many academic articles are written by researchers from outside the culture that they describe and accordingly may contain errors, which are passed along to me. Additionally, cultures with large populations and cultures from the West are overrepresented, meaning that I can easily find high quality research on these gods but not gods from smaller and non-Western religions. I have done my best to include a variety of religions in this essay but do con...

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. My fifth stop was Cahoon Museum in Cotuit, MA. Currently celebrating its 40 th year anniversary, the museum was started in 1984 in the former home of the husband-and-wife folk artist team Ralph Cahoon and Martha Farham Cahoon . Artists, architects, and historians alike will delight in these unique buildings filled with local art.