Albums give new look at early area filmmaker

BOISE – Two albums filled with photos, clippings and more about early filmmaker Nell Shipman are giving historians new insight into Shipman’s time at Priest Lake’s Lone Star ranch, where she filmed the movie “Wolf’s Brush” in 1924.

Boise State University professor Tom Trusky said the albums include such treasures as 16 photos of Shipman and her crew at the ranch, a long-defunct resort on the east side of Priest Lake.

The albums were donated by Marybeth Matlock, of Olympia, who received them from her 96-year-old mother-in-law, Joy Matlock, of Olympia. The albums have been donated to the Shipman Archives at BSU.

Shipman wrote, directed and starred in two dozen silent films, some widely acclaimed. Her movies featured on-location cinematography of beautiful scenery and lots of animals, and she often portrayed a feisty, pioneering female heroine.

To view some of the photos online, go to news. boisestate.edu and click on “Photo albums discovery …”