PBS Filmmaker Ken Burns Discusses the National Parks at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theatre

Vermont Humanities Council Presents First Wednesdays Lecture: PBS Filmmaker Ken Burns Discusses the National Parks at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theatre

Acclaimed PBS filmmaker Ken Burns will discuss his latest project, a history of the national parks, in a talk at Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro on March 3. His talk, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7:00 p.m. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public. 

“The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” is a six-part documentary series directed by Burns that aired on PBS. The project took more than six years to film, taking Burns from the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska to Florida’s Everglades and many places between. Burns will discuss how he brought the film together, and talk about the contributions of a diverse group of so-called ordinary Americans who helped make the national parks possible.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than thirty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, among them The War, The Civil War, Baseball, Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and other films. Stephen Ambrose, the historian, has said of his films, "More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source."

Burns’s films have won numerous awards, including the Peabody Award, the Erik Barnouw Prize, the Emmy, the Grammy, the CINE Golden Eagle Award, the Clarion Award, the Producer of the Year Award from the Producer's Guild, the People's Choice Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, among many others.

The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks are held at Brooks Memorial Library unless otherwise noted. Upcoming Brattleboro talks include “To Live or Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan” with journalist Nicholas Schmidle on April 7; and “Transforming History into Fiction: The Story of a Born Liar” with author Howard Frank Mosher on May 5.

First Wednesdays is also presented in eight other communities statewide: Burlington (at Fletcher Free Library); Manchester (at First Congregational Church, hosted by Mark Skinner Library); Middlebury (at Ilsley Public Library); Montpelier (at Kellogg-Hubbard Library); Newport/Stanstead, Quebec (at Goodrich Memorial Library and Stanstead College, in alternating months); Norwich (at Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society); Rutland (at Rutland Free Library); and at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.

For more information, contact Brooks Memorial Library at 802.254.5290 or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or info@vermonthumanities.org, or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.