Wednesday, April 30, 2008
New Harmony’s history subject of educational film
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Ball State University filmmakers will be in Historic New Harmony this month making an educational film about the 19th century utopian community founded there by Robert Owen. Owen, an industrialist and social reformer of Welsh descent, purchased New Harmony in 1825 in order to establish a model community where education and social equality would flourish. Although Owen’s experiment dissolved in 1827, his utopian dream brought significant contributions to American scientific and educational theory, study, and practice. Filming will take place in New Harmony May 5-9 and May 12-16. Other scenes will be filmed in locations throughout the state. The film was also touch on The Harmony Society, New Harmony’s first utopian community founded by George Rapp. BSU students and Posey County residents will portray Owenite and Harmonist community members, and interviews will be conducted with New Harmony scholars and descendents of Owen community members. Exterior and interior shots of historical buildings dating from the era will be filmed in New Harmony. One thousand copies of the film will be distributed to schools and libraries across Indiana, and it will be incorporated into the fourth grade curriculum for study of Indiana history. The project was made possible through an Ohio River Teaching American History Project grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The filming will be overseen by Dr. Ron Morris, associate professor of history at BSU. |
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