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The recent historical documentary film premiere of Country School: One Room - One Nation featured a unique display of one-room school artifacts provided by several different collectors. The teacher's bells above were provided by Bill Sherman. He also provided the Iowa "Standard" and "Superior" school plates shown below.
Pre-order your copy of Country School: One Room - One Nation on DVD by visiting this link: http://docublogger.typepad.com/countryschool/10-preorder-the-country-school-dvd.html
One-room school teachers often gave students "rewards of merit" to recognize achievement, attendance, and good conduct. The examples above were provided by Jane and Paul Moody, of Country School Displays in Quincy, Illinois, as part of a lobby display for the Des Moines, Iowa premiere of the documentary feature film Country School: One Room - One Nation.
Film synopsis: http://docublogger.typepad.com/countryschool/synopsis.html
Pre-order the DVD that includes the film and oodles of extras by visiting this page: http://docublogger.typepad.com/countryschool/10-preorder-the-country-school-dvd.html
The next public showing of the film is Sunday, December 12, 2010 at the Ohnward Fine Arts Center in Maquoketa, Iowa.
The Just 4 Fun String Band performed before and between the Twin Premiere showings of Country School: One Room - One Nation. The band is based in Eastern Iowa and several of their old-time music tunes are featured on the sountrack of the new one-room school documentary film.
The final showing of Country school in Des Moines will take place at 2:00 pm today, Sunday November 21, 2010 at the State Historical Building.
See you there!
What an incredible premiere night event with nearly 300 people attending. We will post more photos and details soon. Thanks to everyone who took part in such a memorable and successful evening. Our gratitude again to our sponsors: Preservation Iowa, Sierra Investment Management, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, the State Historical Society of Iowa.
More screenings this premiere weekend at the State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust St., Des Moines: Saturday, Nov. 20 at 2p, 4p, 7p and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2p. Tickets $8/pp at the door.
Filmmakers Kelly & Tammy Rundle at Forest Grove School in
Bettendorf, Iowa.
"Country School: One Room - One Nation" premieres on Friday, November 19th, 2010 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines. A searchlight will light up the sky when the twin-premiere event opens at 5:30 pm.
Guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the festive offerings of the East Village's Holiday Promenade 2010 from 5pm until 9pm--before or after the film screenings. Fireworks are set to go off at 6:15pm. The premiere will feature music by Just 4 Fun Old Time Music—showcasing music from the documentary, a display of country school memorabilia, the premiere film screenings and Q&A with the Rundles and film participants following the movie.
The premiere event is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, Preservation Iowa and Sierra Investment Management, Inc.
The State Historical Building is located at 600 E. Locust Street in Des Moines. The documentary will show on Friday, November 19, 2010, at 6pm and 8pm. Tickets are $10 per person through www.Midwestix.com or $13 at the door. In addition to the film, the premiere evening will feature DCA’s 6th Annual “Chili for Charity” for the Food Bank of Iowa will be served from 5-8pm for $5 per person. The premiere is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, Preservation Iowa and Sierra Investment Management.
Additional screenings of “Country School” will continue on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 2pm, 4pm and 7pm, and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2pm. Tickets are $8 per person at the door.
Country School: One Room – One Nation was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area. The Rundles own Fourth Wall Films, an independent film and video production company formerly of Los Angeles, now based in Moline, IL.
The popular Just 4 Fun Old Time Music band will perform at the premiere of Country School: One Room -
One Nation at the State Historical Building on Friday, November 19th, 2010.
Filmmakers Tammy and Kelly Rundle spent two years visiting over 70 one-room schools throughout the Upper Midwest for their most ambitious documentary to date, Country School: One Room – One Nation. The film will have its world premiere at the State Historical Building in Des Moines on Friday, November 19, 2010 at 6:00 and 8:00 pm, where the Just 4 Fun Old Time Music Band will perform music featured in the documentary.
Over 80 hours of interviews, vistas, and historic sites shot in all four seasons in Iowa and four other states have been distilled down to a feature-length documentary that tells the dramatic true story of the life, death, and rebirth of one-room schools in the Upper Midwest.
During editing, the Rundles began searching for music and heard samples of Muscatine, Iowa’s Just 4 Fun Old Time Music and contacted the band. The string band music, performed by Chris Clark, Jean Duncan, Sandy Koester, Yvonne Price and Linda Slack, was a perfect fit for the documentary.
"Just 4 Fun's music captures the energy and the fun of specific parts of the film," said director Kelly Rundle. "We feel very fortunate to have them a part of the project."
"The wonderful thing is that people will get to see them perform at the premiere event in Des Moines," said producer Tammy Rundle. "It will be a real celebration and we know the audience is going to catch the Just 4 Fun bug, just as we did."
Along with the expected nostalgia, the Rundles’ journey revealed a few surprises: guns in school, children punished for being left-handed, bullying, lunch-stealing ponies, weather disasters, a country school designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the passion former students, teachers, and preservationists have for these sometimes forgotten and neglected little schools.
“They did what they were supposed to do,” said Iowa historian Dorothy Schwieder. “There was a time when they met the needs of society. There was also a time when they ceased to meet the needs of society.”
“The mythology both demonizes and glorifies the one-room school,” said writer Bill Samuelson. “The truth is somewhere in between.”
Country School also takes a closer look at rural schools and how they attempted to unify American immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
“By 1900 in Wisconsin we had over 50 ethnic groups, all of them committed to public education, and the little country school as the symbol for accomplishing it,” said writer Jerry Apps.
In another angle that seems ripped from today’s headlines, old lessons hold true as small town schools that once received students of consolidated one-room schools now face closure themselves.
“One-room schools are a page in American history that is turning, and perhaps in another generation or two, there will be no one left to tell the story,” said Samuelson.
Preservationist Bill Sherman of Des Moines (the man who proposed a schoolhouse for the Iowa quarter) suggested the topic of one-room schools to the Rundles at the premiere of their award-winning film Lost Nation: The Ioway.
“If we can understand the role that country schools played in our culture, then we can better understand who we are and how we evolved into the country, the state, and the communities that we are,” said Sherman.
Iowa is ground-zero for one-room schools and an obvious choice for the world premiere. Just after 1900, Iowa had nearly 13,000 one-room schools—more than any other state. Iowa still has 3,000 existing buildings and 200 restored schools—more than any other state. Over 50 one-room schools are still in operation in Iowa and three of those are still part of a public K-12 school district.
More theatrical bookings, film festivals, a national DVD release, and Midwestern PBS broadcasts are planned for Country School: One Room – One Nation in 2010 and 2011.
The Country School twin-premiere event will be held at the State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines St. on Friday, November 19, 2010, at 6pm and 8pm. Tickets are $10 per person through www.Midwestix.com or $13 at the door. In addition to the film, the premiere evening will feature music by Just 4 Fun Old Time Music—showcasing music from the documentary, a historical display of country school memorabilia, and Q&A with the Rundles and film participants following the screenings. The Iowa Department of Cultural Art’s 6th Annual “Chili for Charity” for the Food Bank of Iowa will be served from 5-8pm for $5 per person. The premiere is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, Preservation Iowa and Sierra Investment Management.
Additional screenings of Country School will continue on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 2pm, 4pm and 7pm, and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2pm. Tickets are $8 per person at the door.
Country School: One Room – One Nation was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
From the filmmakers of the award-winning documentaries "Lost Nation: The Ioway" and "Villisca: Living with a Mystery"
“Country School: One Room – One Nation”, a new documentary exploring the myth and the legacy of Midwestern one-room schools, will make its world premiere at the State Historical Building in Des Moines on November 19, 2010. The film was written and produced by award-winning filmmakers Tammy and Kelly Rundle (“Villisca: Living with a Mystery” and “Lost Nation: The Ioway”).
Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation. From the first schools in new states to the demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, “Country School: One Room - One Nation” takes viewers "back to school" for a new and unique look at the lasting impact of middle-America’s one-room schools.
“Today’s complex, consolidated, urban education system stands on the shoulders of America’s one-room schools,” said director Kelly Rundle.
At its peak, Iowa was home to nearly 13,000 one-room schools, more than any other state in the country. Currently there are over 3,000 country schools still standing in Iowa, with 200 restored schools—more than any other state.
“One-room country schools played a significant and prominent role in Iowa’s past and they remain a source of interest today,” Department of Cultural Affairs Director Cyndi Pederson said. “I encourage anybody with an interest in history and one-room schools to see this documentary.”
“Because seventy to eighty percent of Iowa children attended one-room schools in the 1800s, this story is a family history for most Iowans,” said producer Tammy Rundle. “Both of our fathers attended one-room schools in Iowa and Wisconsin.”
Shot over a two year period in the midst of all four seasons, the film features a unique country school designed by Frank Lloyd Wright along with dozens of more traditional structures of brick, stone, or wood – in all stages of restoration or decay – in picturesque rural areas of Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska. Interviews with former country school teachers and students, as well as a who’s who of one-room school scholars, include authors Bill Samuelson, Jerry Apps, Dorothy Schwieder, Sue Grosboll, Lisa Ossian, Mark Dewalt, Vera Hurst, Frank Yoder and Bill Sherman—the man who suggested the topic to the Rundles.
The “Country School” twin premiere event will be held at the State Historical Building on Friday, November 19, 2010, at 6pm and 8pm. Tickets are $10 per person through www.Midwestix.com or $13 at the door. In addition to the film, the premiere evening will feature music by Just 4 Fun Old Time Music—showcasing music from the documentary, a historical display of country school memorabilia, and Q&A following the film screenings. DCA’s 6th Annual “Chili for Charity” for the Food Bank of Iowa will be served from 5-8pm for $5 per person. The premiere is sponsored by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Preservation Iowa and Sierra Investment Management. Additional screenings of “Country School” will take place on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 2pm, 4pm and 7pm, and Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2pm. Tickets are $8 per person at the door.
“Country School: One Room – One Nation” was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area. The Rundles own Fourth Wall Films, an independent film and video production company formerly of Los Angeles, now based in Moline, IL.