Abby Epplett, Historian

I first learned about the documentary Whitin through a Blackstone Heritage Corridor newsletter upon its release about five months ago in November 2024. The documentary was edited, written, and produced by filmmaker Heather Riley of North Grafton with significant input from members of the Whitin family. The documentary is about twenty-seven minutes in length and currently hosted on the ValleyCAST YouTube channel.

I recently watched the documentary Primary 1960 , a cinéma vérité or direct cinema documentary created by the director team of Richard Leacock , Albert Maysles , D.A. Pennebaker , and Terence Macartney-Filgate . I first learned about this documentary while researching for my essay “Introduction to the History of Documentaries” , which I posted back in early May. Covering the Wisconsin 1960 primary race between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey , the film takes viewers around the state to get a personal look at the two candidates. Radio and television actor Joseph Julian narrated the documentary in a raspy but soothing voice. The opening scenes introduced viewers to the two candidates. Kennedy signed autographs for city crowds, while Humphrey wore a cool hat while traveling through the countryside. Julian explained in voiceover that many candidates were dreamers, and the primaries were a “process of eliminating these dreamers to select a president.” This type of ...

I had been meaning to watch the Ann & Hope Documentary by David Lawlor from  Run of the Mill , which debuted on YouTube in August 2023, and I finally got around to doing it! This fact-paced film gave the history of the three iterations of Ann & Hope — a boat, a mill, and a department store chain — through twelve chapters, with plenty of interviews, drone shots, music, and animation segments. Rhode Islanders who grew up near an Ann & Hope store will have the chance to reminisce, historians will enjoy the fact-packed content, and cinefiles will appreciate the clever editing. After an opening music video, “Chapter 1: The Creation of the Blackstone River Valley” and “Chapter 2: William Blackstone” focused on the history of the Blackstone valley before the Industrial Revolution. The film introduced park rangers Allison Horrocks (who frequent readers of the blog will remember from Parked at Home ) and Kevin Klyberg of Blackstone River Valley National Historical P...

I recently finished watching the first season of  Slatersville: America’s First Mill Village , which was directed, edited, and produced by award-winning local filmmaker Christian de Rezendes of Breaking Branch Pictures . I last met de Rezendes, along with  Slatersville researcher-producer Gail Denomme , at North Smithfield Heritage Day on July 8 , where they led tours using the history featured in the documentary. The series itself was nominated for a 46 th Boston/New England Emmy Award in the documentary category and won the music composition/arrangement category for its score composed by  Stephen Gilbane . Besides its high artistic merit, the documentary shared stories of Slatersville and its residents that had never before been published. “Episode 1: The Mental Smugglers” covered the life of Samuel Slater , a mill worker from Belper, England , an industrial town in the Amber Valley within the county of Derbyshire . Slater memorized the entire text...

While I was not able to attend the Civil War reenactment at South County Museum in Narragansett, Rhode Island, which took place back on July 16 and 17, I watched a charming, fourteen-minute-long documentary about the event. Produced by the New England video company LittleFire  with support from the Rhode Island Foundation  and South County Museum, the film records the event while following a pair of reenactors, 15-year-old Jacob Bates and his father, Scott Bates. The documentary serves as a quick introduction to historical reenactment, showcasing how seriously the reenactors take their portrayals. Jacob describes his authentic replica clothing and antique rifle, along with singing a Civil War era ballad. He speaks of the reenactors’ collaboration with the National Park Service and the amount of research that must be done so the battles appear authentic to the audience. While he does smale while comparing historical reenactment to LARPing (Live Action Role Playing,...