2015 Press Releases

National Archives Presents Documentary -THE STONE RIVER- March 24 at 7 PM
Press Release · Monday, March 2, 2015

Washington, DC

On Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m, the National Archives will show the documentary The Stone River. This screening is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, and streamed live via YouTube. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance, located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. The building is fully accessible. Metro: Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station.

The Stone River (2013; 88 minutes) traces the destiny of European stone workers who, at the beginning of the 20th century, crossed the ocean to settle in the town of Barre, Vermont, where they labored in the granite quarries. Within a few years, most of them were afflicted with silicosis, a lung disease that is caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica. At the end of the 1930s, inhabitants of Barre were interviewed by the Roosevelt administration's Federal Writers Project. For the film, present-day residents of Barre read the texts of these interviews. The screening will be introduced by Margaret Parsons, Curator of Film at the National Gallery of Art. Presented in partnership with the 2015 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital and the National Gallery of Art.

The Federal Writers' Project was created in 1935 as part of the United States Work Progress Administration to provide employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians, and other white-collar workers. Originally, the purpose of the project was to produce a series of sectional guide books under the name American Guide, focusing on the scenic, historical, cultural, and economic resources of the United States. Eventually new programs were developed and projects begun under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration were absorbed by the Writers' Project.

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