Dotted with small towns along its east-west course across Indiana, U.S. Highway 40 is no ordinary thoroughfare. It’s a historic landmark—Indiana’s segment of the Historic National Road, the first federally funded highway.

From 2007 to 2009, Nancy Carlson, a member of Ball State’s telecommunications faculty, and seven undergraduate and graduate students set out on a journey to produce Movers and Stakers: Stories along the Indiana National Road, an hour-long documentary about the road and the stories that unfolded on, around, and because of it.

“Many travel guides have been written about the National Road, but no one has told the many human stories of building, living along, or traveling across it,” says Carlson, the documentary’s executive producer and a history buff. “The history, stories, and famous landmarks—they’re remarkable. It’s easy to get lost in them.”

Upon receiving federal funding for the project, Carlson and her students began their research and found a wealth of information. Enacted by Congress to encourage Americans to move westward, the National Road’s construction began in 1806; Indiana’s 156-mile stretch from Richmond to Terre Haute was completed in 1834. Thousands of Hoosiers have grown up in towns along and near the road, and thousands more, from all over, have traveled it.

“Our students are involved in every aspect of the project from scouting and research to running the cameras and editing the film,” Carlson says. “They are engaged in helping to share these wonderful stories.”

Brian Handler, MA ’09, who in the future would like to teach college-level production courses, is the documentary’s director of photography. He supervised the other students, using this experience as an opportunity to refine his storytelling and production skills but also to practice teaching.

“Ball State offers an immersion experience that I’ve never been around,” says Handler. “We’re able to get out there in the field and get our hands dirty. It’s a great way for all of us to learn, and I also get experience translating what I’ve learned so that I can teach others.”

The movie was screened statewide in 2009 to audiences in Greenfield, Indianapolis, Richmond and Muncie. The documentary will also be used in visitor centers, museums with touch-screen kiosks, and classrooms.

Roger Young, a telecommunications faculty member, attended the Muncie screening.

“I thought it was very well done, very informative,” he says. “I knew nothing about the subject at all and there was a tremendous amount of information in it.”

For more on the documentary, including a trailer and information about ordering a DVD, visit the Movers and Stakers Web site.