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Need a video about Winchester? Peter Engeldrum’s your guy. Among the many things he’s done for the community is produce a video series called “This is Winchester!” [Full disclosure: your writer is co-producer].
So far, the series includes one about town meeting and it won a national award for best film in the government category. Town government liked it so much that it’s on the town’s Town Meeting page.
The Vinson Circle resident came to town 33 years ago and he and his wife Carol Keller got involved in the Winchester Artists Network. Member Don Daniel talked him into joining the Winchester Cultural Council, which gives grants to folks proposing a cultural event in town.
And early on he joined WinCAM, Winchester’s cable access network, where he got involved in making films.
Engeldrum got his start when he was his high school’s yearbook photographer. His father did photography work for the federal government and had a darkroom.
He was hooked.
“It was like magic,” says Engeldrum.
Realizing that having a photography career wouldn’t “keep the grey matter grey,” he became a color scientist working for CBS, Xerox, and eventually having his own consulting business.
His concern for the longevity of still photographs made him decide to get involved in film, which then led him to create Legacy Winchester, a digital archive of film, photos, and recordings.
“My dad had 12,000 feet of movies in his freezer” he says, adding he had to learn to digitize them.
Engeldrum discovered WinCAM wasn’t able to do any digitizing and when he found out that one of their board members, Allan Eyden, had some news program tapes, he got an En Ka grant to get the job done.
“Sandy Rogers had a program called Focus on Winchester which ran for three years in the 80s,” he says.
So Engeldrum decided to start with them.
“I’m halfway done with the 35 DVDs,” he says.
Legacy Winchester is a Winchester Historical Society program. One of the programs is called Sandy Rogers Focus on Winchester.
“I’ve always been impressed at the quality and entertainment value of Peter’s work,” WinCAM Director David Gauthier says. “Peter carries on the longtime tradition of local storytelling, but in a digital format. I think the highest praise I can give is the fact that I don’t live in Winchester, but always look forward to viewing his material.”
The second “This is Winchester!” film is about the transfer station, and the latest one is about the town’s water supply system, which has been nominated for a national award.
Next up — the public library – and Engeldrum wants residents to know they could have a starring role!
