Country School: One Room - One Nation

"Country School" Documentary Film Receives Humanities Iowa Grant

One-room school re-enactment in Taylor #4 in Marshalltown, Iowa.

One-Room School Film Receives Funding for Editing

 

MOLINE, IL - Award-winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have received another major media grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities for their new historical documentary feature film project Country School: One Room - One Nation.  The fiscal sponsor for the grant is the Greater Quad Cities Telecommunications Corporation (WQPT-PBS) in Moline, Illinois.

 

The grant will fund a portion of the cost of post-production work on the project and a public showing of the finished film.  The documentary project previously received grants for production from Humanities Iowa, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, the Kansas Humanities Council, and the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

 

“We are grateful to Humanities Iowa for its continued support for this important documentary,” said Producer Kelly Rundle.

 

Country schools took rough-hewn pioneers and multilingual immigrants and transformed them into a literate and patriotic new nation.  The documentary will tell the dramatic true story of Midwestern one-room schools and their impact yesterday and today.

 

The film will feature a who’s who of country school scholars, former teachers and students, and nearly 50 Midwestern one-room schoolhouses.  Country School: One Room, One Nation is slated for completion in the summer of 2010.

 

Humanities Iowa is the only non-profit organization in Iowa committed to bringing the humanities to life and to the public through interactive programming, publications, and events.

 

The Rundles previously produced the award-winning films Lost Nation: The Ioway and Villisca: Living with a Mystery.  Fourth Wall Films is an independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.

"Country School: One Room - One Nation" Wins Wisconsin Humanties Council Grant

Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films in Moline, Illinois have been awarded a major media grant from the Wisconsin Humanties Council for the historical documentary feature film project Country School: One Room - One Nation.

The grant will fund a portion of the cost of production in Wisconsin and a showing of the finished film.  The Rundles have previously received grants for Country School from Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.

The fiscal sponsor for the grant is the Richland County Historical Society in Richland Center, Wisconsin.  The Rundles acknowledge gratitude to Society president Jerry Bower for his assistance with the Wisconsin portion of the project.

The Wisconsin scholar featured in the film will be Jerold W. Apps, Ph.D., the author of One-Room Country Schools: History and Recollections.  Dr. Apps is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is also a former student of a Wisconsin one-room school.

Wisconsin one-room schools to be featured in the film include the Akey School Museum in Richland Center, Brickyard School Museum in Merrill, New Richmond Heritage Center Camp #9 school, Frances Willard School in Janesville, Chippewa Valley Museum Sunnyview school, Old World Wisconsin schoolhouse in Eagle, the Stony Hill schoolhouse near Waubeka, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Wyoming Valley Grammar school in Spring Green.

One of Wisconsin's most interesting and unique contributions to country school history was the Wisconsin School of the Air broadcasts that began with ten programs airing daily in 1931.  Programs such as Afield with Ranger Mac, Exploring Science, and Democracy in Action were aimed squarely at the state's 6,000 one-room school and their students.  Radio lessons were welcomed by already heavily-burdened country school teachers and often provided instruction in subjects that teachers were not qualified to teach.

Fourth Wall Films previously produced the award-winning and critically-acclaimed Lost Nation: The Ioway and Villisca: Living with a Mystery.

Country School Documentary Film Project Wins Kansas Humanities Grant Award

MOLINE, IL - Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have won an $8,550 Kansas Humanities grant award for their historical documentary film project Country School: One Room - One Nation.

The grant will fund a portion of costs associated with on-camera interviews of one-room school scholars, former students, teachers, and filming at a variety of historic country school building sites in Kansas.

The Kansas Humanities Council previously supported the Rundles' Lost Nation: The Ioway (2007).

The fiscal sponsor for Country School: One Room - One Nation is Kansas Public Telecommunication Services, Inc. (KPTS) in Wichita, Kansas.

One-Room School Documentary Film Wins Silos & Smokestacks Grant

MOLINE, IL - Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have won a $7,000 Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area grant award for their historical documentary film project Country School: One Room - One Nation.

The grant will fund a portion of costs associated with on-camera interviews of one-room school scholars, former students, teachers, and filming at a variety of historic country school building sites in the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area in Iowa.

The "Silos & Smokestacks" area includes most of the Northeastern quandrant of the state of Iowa.

At their peak in the early 1900s, Iowa had more country schools than any other state in the nation.  Iowa currently has 3,000 existing school buildings and 200 fully restored country school museums.

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area previously supported the Rundles' Lost Nation: The Ioway (2007).

The fiscal sponsor for Country School: One Room - One Nation is Kansas Public Telecommunication Services, Inc. (KPTS) in Wichita, Kansas.

"Country School" Documentary Wins Humanities Iowa Grant Award

 

MOLINE, IL - Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have won a $15,000 Humanities grant award for their historical documentary film project Country School: One Room - One Nation.

The grant will fund a portion of costs associated with on-camera interviews of one-room school scholars, former students, teachers, and filming at a variety of historic country school building sites in Iowa.

At their numerical peak in the early 1900s, Iowa had more country schools than any other state in the nation.  Iowa still has the most, with 3,000 existing school buildings and 200 fully restored country school museums.  Over 50 one-room schools are still operating in Iowa.

Humanities Iowa has previously supported the Rundles' Lost Nation: The Ioway (2007) and Villisca: Living with a Mystery (2004).

The fiscal sponsor for Country School: One Room - One Nation is Kansas Public Telecommunication Services, Inc. (KPTS) in Wichita, Kansas.