Free Virtual Valley Talks Continue with Slatersville Documentary
WOONSOCKET, R.I. – Valley Talks, a series of biweekly historical lectures by the Museum of Work & Culture, continues Sunday, February 7 at 1pm on Zoom.
HENRY PLIMPTON KENDALL
Critically acclaimed filmmaker Christian de Rezendes will present a segment of Slatersville: America’s First Mill Village, a historical documentary series which will have its world premiere on Rhode Island PBS in the Fall of 2021.
This sixth work-in-progress piece, “Henry Plimpton Kendall: They Will All Be My Friends,” will focus on Kendall, who purchased the Slatersville mill and village in 1915 and brought it from a state of low morale to a New England renaissance.
Individuals can register for the talk by visiting
This year’s series is presented as part of the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Taking a Stand in Rhode Island, a yearlong examination of how the people who have called this place home, from the 17th century to the recent past, have identified aspects of society that needed to shift and how they worked to change them.
Through his company, Breaking Branches Pictures (est. 1996), de Rezendes has produced critically acclaimed feature films including 41, a documentary about the youngest victim of the Station Nightclub Fire, Getting Out of Rhode Island, a fully improvised dramedy feature, Alzira’s Story, the family inspired documentary, and Raising Matty Christian, a documentary about a man born without full limbs whose accomplishments inspired thousands.
To date, his work has received more than 35 filmmaking awards. Many of his twenty plus directing credits have been broadcast on PBS and screened internationally at film festivals. De Rezendes continues to direct, film and edit promotional pieces for a wide variety of corporate, non-profit and commercial clients as well as his own projects.
Other Valley Talks will include:
February 21: Writers Rebecca Altman and Kerri Arsenault will explore their work about North American manufacturing and the environmental, political, and personal legacies it has left behind.
March 7: Writer and historical reenactor Paul Bourget will examine the Sentinelle Affair, the local underground movement that led to the excommunication of 61 congregants.
March 21: Author David Vermette will discuss how the U.S. mainstream perceived French-Canadians when they were an immigrant community in New England at the turn of the 20th century.
About the Museum of Work & Culture
The interactive and educational Museum of Work & Culture shares the stories of the men, women, and children who came to find a better life in Rhode Island’s mill towns in the late 19th- and 20th centuries. It recently received a Rhode Island Monthly Best of Rhode Island Award for its SensAbilities Saturdays all-ability program.
About the Rhode Island Historical Society
Founded in 1822, the RIHS, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is the fourth-oldest historical society in the United States and is Rhode Island’s largest and oldest historical organization. In Providence, the RIHS owns and operates the John Brown House Museum, a designated National Historic Landmark, built in 1788; the Aldrich House, built in 1822 and used for administration and public programs; and the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center, where archival, book and image collections are housed. In Woonsocket, the RIHS manages the Museum of Work and Culture, a community museum examining the industrial history of northern Rhode Island and of the workers and settlers, especially French-Canadians, who made it one of the state’s most distinctive areas.