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Film, Video Web Page The forgotten frontier

About this Item

Title

  • The forgotten frontier

Summary

  • The forgotten frontier was filmed by photojournalist Marvin Breckinridge to document the humanitarian work being done in Kentucky by her cousin, nurse Mary Breckinridge, and the other nurse-midwives of the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). The film shows nurse-midwives providing child hygiene, midwifery, sick nursing, medical care, dentistry, public health and assisting doctors with emergency surgery for people living in underserved areas in Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains. The film includes re-creations involving the actual patients, and depicts nurses traveling by horseback for miles through the mountains to help the community by delivering babies, inoculating children, and tending bullet wounds. This short version also includes a short prologue and epilogue, and a voice-over narration by Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson. She talks about how her cousin asked her to make this film; how she made the film; the work of the FNS; and her career and marriage to Jefferson Patterson.

Names

  • Patterson, Mary Marvin Breckinridge, 1905-2002, filmmaker, narrator, onscreen presenter
  • Durrin, Ginny, adapter
  • Durrin Productions, Inc., contributor
  • Copyright Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • United States : [distributor not identified, 1986].

Headings

  • -  Breckinridge, Mary,--1881-1965
  • -  Lester, Betty
  • -  MacKinnon, Ann,--1885-1953
  • -  Collins, R. L.,--1879-1963
  • -  Frontier Nursing Service, Inc
  • -  Midwifery--Kentucky
  • -  Nursing--Kentucky
  • -  Rural health services--Kentucky

Genre

  • Sponsored films
  • Short films
  • Nonfiction films

Notes

  • -  PAu001017223 U.S. Copyright Office
  • -  Annie MacKinnon and Betty Lester are indentifed as "Miss MacKinnon" and "Miss Lester on interior titles. Full names taken from the Quarterly bulletin of the Frontier Nursing Service. The surgeon depicted is not named, but according to Kentucky Progress magazine, Spring, 1934, p. 148, the FNS consulting surgeon was Dr. R.L. Collins of Hazard, Kentucky.
  • -  Copyright: Frontier Nursing Service. Appl. au.: script, film, direction, production: Marvin Breckinridge Patterson; production, editing, compilation, soundtrack: Marvin Breckinridge Patterson, employer of Durrin Films. Prev.: Music & sound recordings prev. pub.; preexisting material: silent film of same title. NM: editing of original film footage; compilation of background music & sound recordings; some film footage; narration. DCR 1986; REG 11May87; PAu001017223.
  • -  The original 1930 film has been shortened from 48 minutes to 26 minutes and a voice-over narration has been added.
  • -  Year is date of production.
  • -  LC holds the original 1930 version (LCCN 2024600522) and additional material relating to the original in the Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson Collection (LCCN 99468247).
  • -  Mary Breckinridge, a cousin of Marvin Breckinridge (Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson), founded the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in 1925. In 1928, Marvin became the first woman courier for the FNS. She was responsible for the care of the horses used for transportation, and served as an assistant to the nurses and as a guide to visitng doctors. In 1929, after she left the FNS, Mary Breckinridge asked her to learn cinematography in order to make a film about the FNS.
  • -  Sources used: copyright data sheet; copyright online catalog; copyright description; Behlen, A., Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson: from career broadcaster to career diplomatic wife, p. 5-6; Quarterly bulletin of the Frontier Nursing Service, Inc., December, 1929 (v. 6 no. 8), p. 3 viewed July 18, 2024 via ExploreUK, University of Kentucky, UK Libraries, Special Collections Research Center.
  • -  Additional photography, Bob Sullivan ; sound, Steve Schecter ; editing, Judy Herbert ; music by Neal Hellman (Appalachian Dulcimer Duets) and Mark Nelson (Fiddle Tunes for Dulcimer).
  • -  Narrator and onscreen presenter: Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson.
  • -  Appearing: Mrs. Mary Breckinridge, R.N., Betty Lester, R.N., Annie P. MacKinnon, R.N., Dr. R.L. Collins.

Medium

  • viewing copy 1 videocassette of 1 (VHS) (28 min.) : sd., b&w and color ; 1/2 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • VAB 2843 (viewing copy)

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 97516682

Online Format

  • web page

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Patterson, Mary Marvin Breckinridge, Filmmaker, Narrator, Onscreen Presenter, Ginny Durrin, Inc Durrin Productions, and Copyright Collection. The Forgotten Frontier. [United States: distributor not identified, 1986] Web Page. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/97516682/.

APA citation style:

Patterson, M. M. B., Durrin, G., Durrin Productions, I. & Copyright Collection. (1986) The Forgotten Frontier. [United States: distributor not identified] [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/97516682/.

MLA citation style:

Patterson, Mary Marvin Breckinridge, Filmmaker, Narrator, Onscreen Presenter, et al. The Forgotten Frontier. [United States: distributor not identified, 1986] Web Page. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/97516682/>.