Middletown to be featured in documentary: The Courier-Times

Middle: at an equal distance from the extremities of something, central. Town: generally larger than a village and smaller than a city. Middletown: an average representation of life in America.

Nadine Owens Burton, a quality improvement speaker in Delaware, is filming a documentary about Middletowns representing the nation. Middletown, Indiana, will be one of her stops as she travels around the country.

When Middletown Fall Creek Historical Society Secretary Steve Holmes heard about the project, he was one of the first people from Indiana to reach out to her. He said that he would be interested in discussing the history of his Middletown.

“I will definitely want to meet with her when she comes,” Holmes said.

Owens Burton has always been interested in the idea of making a documentary and decided it was time to take that risk.

“I’ve taken risks in the past with my education and career, so I wanted to do something I had never done before,” she said. “I love the fact that you’re finding out how people live their lives, and then you can share it with an audience. It’s really a powerful medium.”

She studied sociology for her undergraduate degree at Hampton University in Virgina, which is where she learned about the 1929 Middletown Studies by sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd. However, this study didn’t take place in Middletown at all, but rather in Muncie. The Lynds wanted their research to “present a dynamic, functional study of the contemporary life of this specific American community in the light of trends of changing behaviour observable in it during the last thirty-five years,” according to the original study.

Coincidentally, Owens Burton ended up living in Middletown, Delaware, where she began her project early last year. Her goal is to compare her Middletown to the other Middletowns in the country by following the model of the Lynd’s Middletown Studies, and looking at the historical and sociological aspects of each Middletown. The documentary will be divided into six categories: getting a living, making a home, training the young, using leisure time, engaging in religious practices and engaging in community activities.

Through sponsorships and grants, she hopes to be able to visit all 18 of the Middletowns on her list. However, since there are so many towns to visit, she will only be able to make short 24- to 36-hour trips to each. Depending on the funding she receives, the goal is to visit Indiana in the spring or summer.

But the other hard part is making contacts in each place. Owens Burton has to rely on those who live in and around Middletowns to share their stories, but has already received some cooperation.

“I’ve been very happy with the response in in Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and Indiana,” she said.

Holmes said that he’s excited to see the finished product.

“I think it’s a good idea as a human interest and cultural study of the Middletowns of America,” he said.

To get in touch with Owens Burton or for more information about Middletown U.S.A., visit the project website at www.middletownusathemovie.com.

*For this story I had to get in contact with Nadine Owens Burton, who lives in Delaware. I also tried to contact as many officials in Middletown as I could, but I didn't get much response there. Burton referenced "The Middletown Studies" when we talked, so I did more research into what that study was about.