Abby Epplett, Historian

Last Saturday — June 15, 2024 — I had an adventure in New Bedford, MA. My third major stop was Fort Taber Park , which included the remains of a historic fort, a paved walking trail, and Fort Taber - Fort Rodman Historical Association Military Museum . This museum was my second stop in the Passport to History developed by Old Colony History Museum , my first stop being Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA on June 2, 2024 .

Last year during Day 2 of Smithsonian National Education Summit 2023 , I learned about Becoming US , a high school level educational resource for teaching about immigration and migration. Based on the website of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) , this resource includes classroom guides, a glossary, news articles, videos, and activities for students in 8 th through 11 th grade. Although I have not been in that demographic for over ten years, I enjoyed learning about these topics from multiple perspectives. About This section explained that the online project began in 2014 as part of a collection of in-person, print, and virtual productions. The exhibit Many Voices, One Nation and accompanying book Many Voices, One Nation: Material Culture Reflections on Race and Migration in the United States provided much of the material found in the lessons. Resources Preparing to Teach NMAH provides a forty-four page guide made in collaboration with Teachi...

My tour through The Lord of the Rings enroute to creating the animated musical will take a different approach to projects created by other enthusiasts. I am interested in exploring a holistic view of the text in its historical context. For me, the societies and cultures, both real world and fantasy, in which the book was written and read has the same importance as the material in the book itself. I come from an academic background, meaning that I was in school for too long and have permanently warped my brain with professor jargon, but I will do my best to keep these essays manageable for a reader with a high school level education. With this in mind, I begin with the three-paragraph introductory essay written by Peter S. Beagle and first appearing in the 1973 edition of The Lord of the Rings: Part One, The Fellowship of the Ring , which I will call Fellowship for the remainder of this post. When Beagle penned his mini-essay, he was already a well-established fantasy aut...

On Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m., I attended the third installment of the 2023 Parked at Home series hosted via Zoom by Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park (BRVNHP) . Park rangers Mark Mello of BRVNHP and Joshua Bell at Eisenhower National Historic Site discussed the role of the Blackstone River Valley in military productions from the Civil War to the present, along with the career of five-star general and 34 th United States President Dwight “Ike” David Eisenhower . Mello began the presentation with an overview of the United States presidents, forty-five men serving forty-six terms in office with the obligatory reminder that Grover Cleveland served as 22 nd and 24 th . He reminded the audience that twenty-one NPS sites preserve birthplaces, homes, and other important monuments to the presidents . The Blackstone River Valley has strong connections to 27 th president William Howard Taft , whose family lived in the area and whose ancestor, Lydia Chapin Taft ,...