The film is a product of Angela Smith’s Digital History class at NDSU this fall.
An NDSU public history professor and her students recently helped to produce a documentary on land use in the Red River Valley of North Dakota.
“Glacier, Prairie, Farm: The Evolution of the Red River Valley of the North” will be shown at 7 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Fargo Theatre. The public is invited, and there is no charge for admission.
The film is a product of Angela Smith’s Digital History class at NDSU this fall. The students conducted research, collaborated on the script, interviewed the narrators, found historic images, and helped tell the story of the valley from multiple perspectives. Smith and doctoral student, Dan Newland, directed and edited the film. Smith is a professor of history and the director of the public history program at NDSU.
From Glacial Lake Agassiz to the introduction of railroads to modern-day farming, the story of the Red River Valley is long and complex. This new documentary film by the Fargo History Project examines different perspectives on the evolution of the Red River Valley.
Glacial Lake Agassiz shaped the landscape and ecosystems of the Red River Valley of the North. Its influence played a role in history, providing a flat, fertile environment that later supported agriculture and settlement. This film traces the valley’s land use through time. From the melting glaciers to the tall grass prairies filled with roaming bison to early Indigenous land use for hunting and farming, the railroad’s arrival, and Euro-American settlement to how farmers use the land today.
The event is sponsored by the Fargo History Project, NDSU’s Public History Program, the School of Humanities at NDSU and the College of Arts and Sciences at NDSU.
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