Country School: One Room - One Nation

"Country School" Filmmakers Premiere New Documentaries on Ioway Indians Feb. 23

Delegations from the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will return to their ancestral homeland of Iowa to attend the world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, 17 N. Clinton St., Macbride Hall Auditorium in Iowa City on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, producers of the Emmy® nominated documentary Country School: One Room-One Nation and the award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway 1will join the Ioway and other film participants for Q&A following the screenings.

When the Ioway were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland of Iowa in 1837 to a reservation on the border of Nebraska and Northeast Kansas, Ioway leader White Cloud (The Younger) believed his people must relocate to survive. But intermarriage, broken treaties and the end of communal living led to a split in 1878 and the establishment of a second Ioway tribe in Oklahoma. Both tribes endured hardship and challenges to their traditions and culture to achieve successful land claims and self-determination in the 1970s. Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

“I believe all the tribes had their trail of tears, said Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Tribal Elder Joyce Big Soldier-Miller. “They all suffered--all those Indians who made those treks away from their former homelands.”

“It’s always good to look at the past and remember that it does affect the future,” said Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska tribal member Reuben Ironhorse-Kent. “The ancestors did the best they could with what they had.”

Ioway Elders and tribal members join other Native scholars, historians, archaeologists and anthropologists to tell the dramatic and true story of the small tribe that once claimed the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Pipestone, Minnesota to St. Louis. The state of Iowa takes its name from the Ioway Tribe.

In addition to the premiere, the public is welcome to visit the new Ioway exhibit at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville, Iowa (40 minutes north of Iowa City), a special Ioway display and premiere reception in the Iowa Hall at the Museum of Natural History from 5:30pm until 6:30pm.

The world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 is hosted by the Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, 17 N. Clinton, Macbride Hall Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa and will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The films contain mature themes and historical images that may be disturbing to young children.  A premiere reception will take place from 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Museum's Iowa Hall.

The documentaries will continue screening throughout the U.S. and will be released on a single full-featured DVD in April 2013. An alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language will be offered on the DVD. Broadcasts on Midwestern PBS stations are slated for 2013.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, as well as humanities councils in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Country School" One Year Later

The November 2010 "Country School" premiere promotional poster on display at
the State Historical Building in Des Moines.

It will be one year ago on November 19th that Country School: One Room - One Nation premiered at the State Historical Building in Des Moines, Iowa.  Much has transpired since that opening weekend of public showings. The film has screened 39 times from Iowa to New York.  A one-room school restoration fundraiser in Healdsburg, California will mark the 40th public event.

The documentary was an official selection at three film festivals and received several awards including "Best Pro-AM Documentary" at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, an award for "Artistry and Scholarship" from the Country School Association of America, and a special award from Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area with the citation, "The Rundles have been uncovering stories that are nearly forgotten and preserving stories that are soon to be gone. Their work connects us to Iowa's early inhabitants and farmers, and brings light to how one room built one nation."

Country School received good reviews from film critics, media reviewers and most importantly from audience members.  It enjoyed a regional DVD release in March of 2011, and will be released nationally on DVD through Passion River Films in December 2011, in time for Christmas.

The Just 4 Fun String Band performed at the premiere event. Their music is
featured in "Country School: One Room - One Nation".

What have we learned in this first year of Country School?  That we are fortunate to have been part of preserving this story.  That there is so much to be shared by generations that have come before us, if we only listen.  That the crumbling walls of once thriving one-room schools are filled with stories and inspiration. That the film can help save historic sites that might have been lost forever.  That there is a community of passionate individuals out there dedicated to education and restoration.

And, though we have come full circle, and reflect on the wonderful experience that Country School: One Room - One Nation has been, and how grateful we are for the people we met and friends we have made along the way, the journey is not over.  We have just now rolled up our sleeves...

Thank you to everyone who has taken this journey with us.  You need only look at the credits to see that there were many who helped tell the story of "Country School".  ~Tammy & Kelly Rundle

One-Room School Film Premiere Included Teacher's Bells Display

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

 

Rewards of Merit Display Featured at One-Room School Film Premiere

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.

Just 4 Fun String Band Featured at "Country School: One Room - One Nation" Premiere

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!

"Country School" Premiere Night

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.

KCCI Pre-Premiere Appearance in Des Moines

 

November 19 Premiere of "Country School" Features a Night of Celebration

 
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.

"Country School" Movie's Just 4 Fun Old Time Music to Perform at Premiere

 
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. 

"Country School: One Room - One Nation" Set to Premiere in Des Moines

 

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.