The Old Home Days of New England with Andy Colpitts
On this episode of Historians & Their Histories, we sit down with Andy Colpitts, a PhD candidate in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. Andy tells us about "Old Home Days", a festival tradition established by New Hampshire Governor Frank Rollins at the turn of the twentieth century to welcome former residents back to rural New England. Andy discusses how these festivals, as well as the meaning of the term "nostalgia", have changed over time. We also hear how his training in the performing arts translates to the field of history.
Andy Colpitts is the recipient of a fellowship from the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium.
To learn more about MHS fellowships and how to apply, please visit this page.
Episode Special Guest:
Andy Colpitts is a theatre artist and PhD candidate at Cornell University in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. His dissertation project, entitled “Backcountry Onstage: Rural Theatricality and the Performance of Nostalgia,” interrogates the creation and dissemination of idyllic imaginaries of rural New England through quotidian and theatrical performance from the late nineteenth century to the present day.
This episode uses materials from:
Colocate by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported)
