Country School: One Room - One Nation

IPTV-PBS Continues Broadcasts of Emmy-nominated "Country School: One Room - One Nation"

Taylor #4 in Marshalltown, Iowa, circa 1912.

IPTV-PBS broadcasts continue of the Emmy-nominated documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation by Tammy and Kelly Rundle.   

Country School can be seen on IPTV on Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.; on Wednesday September 26, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. on IPTV-World; and on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. on IPTV-World.

Country School was shot in Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois and received grant awards from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities and the Wisconsin Humanities.  The Rundles visited over 70 one-room schools and interviewed former students, teachers, historians and scholars.

In addition to Country School, Kelly and Tammy Rundle are the creators of the award-winning documentaries Villisca: Living with a Mystery, and Lost Nation: The Ioway.  They are currently in post-production on Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg (with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Garry McGee), Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 (in release November 2012).  They are in production on River to River: Iowa's Forgotten Highway 6 and Sons & Daughters of Thunder (a docudrama based on a play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter).

"Country School" Scholar Schwieder to be Inducted in Iowa Women's Hall of Fame

Our congratulations to Dr. Dorothy Schwieder who will be inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.  Dr. Schwieder was a key scholar and consultant on our documentary film Country School: One Room - One Nation.  She is considered Iowa's historian and we are grateful for her participation in Country School and for all of the work she has done to preserve Iowa's fascinating history! 
~Tammy & Kelly Rundle, Fourth Wall Films

Dr. Dorothy Schwieder provided an indepth interview for Country School: One Room - One Nation.

From the State Historical Society of Iowa Newsletter:

Schwieder to be Inducted into Iowa Women's Hall of Fame

 

Former member of the  State Historical Society of Iowa Board of Trustees, and active Iowa history  advocate and author Dr. Dorothy Schwieder has been selected for induction into  the Iowa Women's Hall of  Fame.

 

The induction ceremony will be  Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. at the State Historical Museum of Iowa,  600 E. Locust, Des Moines. A light reception will follow the ceremony and is  hosted by Friends of the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women. Both events are  free and open to the public. Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim  Reynolds will celebrate the achievements of the 2012 Iowa Women's Hall of Fame  honorees which also include Dr. Judith A. Conlin, Terry Hernandez and Mary Parks  Stier.

 

Dr. Schwieder is a Senior  Historian and University Professor Emerita of History at Iowa State University,  where she was a member of the Iowa State University history faculty from 1966 to  2000. During that time, she taught the History of Iowa course almost every  semester, in addition to in-service Iowa history courses to area public school  teachers and hundreds of presentations on Iowa history to groups around the  state. Schwieder has had a profound effect on the teaching of Iowa history for  the past 30 years.  Her textbook, Iowa: The Middle Land, has  become the standard in high schools, colleges and universities since being  published. She also contributed to a standard youth textbook on Iowa  history, Iowa Past and Present.

 

She served on the board for the  State Historical Society of Iowa for 18 years and on the Humanities Iowa  Speakers Bureau for 15. She has written or co-authored many books on Iowa  history, the most recent being A Peculiar People: Iowa's Old Order Amish (2009)  with her husband, Elmer Schwieder, and Tom Morain, former SHSI Administrator. In  2008, she was awarded SHSI's Petersen-Harlan Award for significant long-term  contributions to Iowa history.

 

"Dorothy is not only a gifted  historian, but also an ambassador for Iowa history around the state, a mentor to  a whole generation of historians on Iowa history fields," Morain said. "She is  indeed a state treasure."

IPTV-PBS Broadcasts "Country School" August 24, 2012

Iowa Public Television (IPTV-PBS) will broadcast the award-winning documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation by Tammy and Kelly Rundle on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.  The film recently received a regional Emmy-nomination in the Historical Documentary category and has won numerous film festival awards and recognition.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation.  Whether personally, or through a parent or grandparent, the country school as an American architectural icon, is as imprinted on our perception of the nation’s early history as the log cabin and the general store.  Stories told by former teachers and students are often nostalgic, but they are also dramatic, humorous, and heart-wrenching.

Country School was shot in Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois and received grant awards from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities and the Wisconsin Humanities.

"Country School" Star Gilbert Ingraham Passes Away at Age 100

Gilbert Ingraham sits for an interview for Country School: One Room - One Nation in 2010.

July 31, 2012 was a bittersweet day for filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle.  On that Tuesday they received the announcement that their documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation was nominated for a regional Emmy Award.  They also learned that they lost one of their Country School 'stars'.  Former one-room school student Gilbert Ingraham of Laurel, Iowa, passed away in the home he was born in.  He was 100.

The Rundles first met Gilbert in May 2010 at Taylor #4 in Marshalltown, Iowa where he sat for an interview for their documentary on the history and legacy of America's one-room schools.  98-year-old Gilbert put on his signature bib-overhauls, drove himself to the school, and took his place in a classroom filled with students, grades 1-8, dressed in period costume.  Schoolmarm Julie Jontz Lang organized the reenactment for the film.  

"Gilbert was a breath of fresh air," said Tammy.  "He loved rural life and farming, and really enjoyed his country school experience.  His reflections as a former student helped us paint a picture of what it was like to take part in that important history." 

A special tribute screening of Country School was presented in 2011 at Marshalltown's Orpheum Theater to honor Gilbert.  He took part in the Q&A following the sold-out event and stole the show with his charm and wit.

Tammy Rundle poses with Gilbert Ingraham during a special reception at Taylor #4 prior to a tribute
screening of Country School at the Orpheum Theater honoring him.

"Gilbert will truly be missed by the many people who knew and loved him, and by those of us whose lives he has touched," said Tammy.  "It is wonderful that we get to see him often--whenever the film broadcasts on television or shows on the big screen."

Gilbert was born on January 20th, 1912 and was the son of Fred and Nellie (Starnes) Ingraham. He graduated from the Laurel High School in 1929. He married Wanda Schnathorst on November 25th, 1932.  Wanda died in 1996.  He was a faithful member of the Laurel United Methodist Church, the Methodist Cemetery board and the Laurel School Board as secretary.  He treasured his family and enjoyed his career of farming.  Left to cherish his memory is his daughter Donna (James) Wernberg of Rockford, IL; five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, six great-great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, adopted "family" and friends.  Funeral services were held on Saturday, August 4th, at the Laurel United Methodist Church.

"Gilbert would have been pleased about the Emmy nomination for Country School," said Tammy.

"He was a very special part of the project and it is a distinction we share with everyone who helped us make the film," said Kelly.

Country School will broadcast on Iowa Public Television (IPTV-PBS) on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 9:00 p.m.  The 2012 Mid-America Emmy® Awards will be held Saturday, September 22, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Midland Theatre in Kansas City.

"Country School" Film Fetches Filmmakers' First Emmy® Nomination

Country School: One Room – One Nation, an award-winning film by Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Moline, Illinois, is one of three films nominated for a Regional (Mid-America) Emmy® in the Historical Documentary category. This is the first time the Rundles have entered a film in the Emmy® competition following a March 2012 qualifying broadcast on WQPT-PBS.

“We are deeply honored by this nomination,” said Tammy. “And, we gratefully share this wonderful distinction with everyone who helped us make the film,” added Kelly.

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation. Country School: One Room - One Nation provides a never-before-seen perspective on one-room schools in the Upper Midwest. From the first schools in new states to the demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, the visually stunning film takes viewers "back to school" for a dramatic new look at the lasting impact of America's one-room schools.

Country School premiered in 2010 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines and has since screened more than 60 times in cities throughout the United States. The critically-acclaimed film was released nationally on DVD in 2011. Iowa Public Television (IPTV) will feature broadcasts in late August and September, and broadcasts on other PBS stations will continue through the balance of 2012.

The 2012 Mid-America Emmy® Awards will be held Saturday, September 22, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Midland Theatre in Kansas City.

Country School was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa, Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, and the Kansas Humanities Council.

Fourth Wall Films is a film and video production and distribution company formerly based in Los Angeles, California and now located in Moline, Illinois. Visit www.FourthWallFilms.com for more information.

The Mid-America chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) includes television markets primarily in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and surrounding DMAs.
 
NATAS is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy® Award. For more information visit www.emmymid-america.org.