Press Release

A press release was sent to the Wabash Plain Dealer concerning this award.  It was not sent to our local weekly papers, which constitute a majority of the newspaper readership in the North Manchester area, nor to other county papers who cover our activities.  The North Manchester Historical Society has arranged to pass this press release to you since this is a significant award and Indiana Humanities would like it to be publicized, especially in counties like Wabash that don’t receive such awards often.

Indiana nonprofits receive nearly $21,000 in grants to conduct and create humanities-based programs

Projects funded by Indiana Humanities include North Manchester video

INDIANAPOLIS (March, 2013)—Indiana Humanities has awarded grants of up to $2,000 each to 12 nonprofit organizations for projects that seek to engage the public in the humanities. The grant money will fund a variety of programs across the state, from Evansville to Fort Wayne. Funded projects include a documentary about North Manchester to be produced by the North Manchester Historical Society.

“It’s our mission to support nonprofits that are creating enriching, humanities-based programs in order to create a stronger, more vibrant and more engaged state,” said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of Indiana Humanities. “The Humanities Initiative Grant program provides nonprofit organizations with funding that many desperately need to conduct programs that encourage Hoosiers all across the state to think, read and talk.”

Funding for Indiana Humanities grant programs is provided in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The northeastern Indiana Humanities Initiative Grantees are:

North Manchester Video History: Yesterday and Today ($2,000)

North Manchester Historical Society, North Manchester

This project will produce two video segments: a Ken Burns-type depiction of historic North Manchester and a documentary of the town today based on a well-known historic film that shows topics of significance there in 1938. The first screenings will be held in Aug. 2014.

An Ethnographic Study of the Importance of Hanging Rock to the Myaamia People ($2,000)
ARCH, Inc., Fort Wayne

Research on the Hanging Rock site will lead to a study and public lecture in Feb., 2014, under the sponsorship of ARCH in Fort Wayne.

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The following is additional information from the North Manchester Historical Society:

Background:  When the 1938 silent film “See Yourself in the Movies” was originally produced, it was a novelty, a fun way for the town to participate in a new medium.  It is full of great detail about who people were, how they dressed, where they worked, cars, gatherings, etc.  It’s a lot of fun, and people enjoy it every time it is shown.

Through time, the North Manchester Historical Society realized that the movie was more important now as an historic artifact.  They thought it might be fun to make a 75th anniversary edition to update the 1938 movie to compare life in 1938 to life today.  What’s the same?  How do we meet the same challenges in a different way?  What concerns us as a community today versus then? 

Unfortunately, the original movie didn’t identify many of the people shown.  For the past two years, NMHS has been making a steady effort to show the 1938 film to the public and focus groups to identify as many people as possible.  A revised “See Yourself in the Movies” was issued by the Historical Society in January.  Volunteers who played a key role in this project are James R.C. Adams, Charles Boebel, Nancy Reed, Joyce Joy, Mike McKee and Shirley Glade.  Adams and Boebel especially have been involved with the project for years, including earlier efforts to convert the original movie to VHS format and then DVD. 

Through the years the NMHS has also gotten input from local 4th grade teachers asking if there were any video materials about the early history of the town.  So that aspect has been incorporated into the project.  

Who knows?  Maybe there will be another 75th anniversary edition in 2088!