"Soil and Soul" Program

The history of farming in the Sangamon River Valley will be the topic of the Sangamon County Historical Society’s program this month at Lincoln Library, Carnegie Room North. The event is free and open to the public.

Rich Saal, a storytelling visual journalist, will present and discuss his documentary “Soil and Soul: Farming in the Sangamon River Valley.” The award-winning documentary was researched, filmed and produced based on interviews with ten farmers who have spent their lives farming in the region. It tells the history of their challenges, traditions and deep connections to the land.

Saal has more than forty years of experience as an editorial portrait photographer and documentary filmmaker in central Illinois. He was previously photography editor at the State Journal-Register. He holds a master’s degree in American history from the University of Illinois Springfield and a bachelor’s in cinema and photography from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

For more information about the event, contact the Sangamon County Historical Society at www.sangamonhistory.org, c2Noc29mZmljZSB8IGdtYWlsICEgY29t or 217-525-1961.