The Forgotten Frontier

The Forgotten Frontier (1931) is a documentary film about the Frontier Nursing Service, nurses on horseback, who traveled the back roads of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky. It was directed by Mary Marvin Breckinridge, and featured her cousin, Mary Breckinridge, who was a nurse-midwife and founded the Frontier Nursing Service in 1925. Also featured are the people of Leslie County, Kentucky, many of whom reenacted their stories.

The film was shot with a hand-cranked camera, often in extreme climate. Stills created during the film's production are available at the Library of Congress.

This documentary shows nurse-midwives as they race on horseback through the wooded hills to deliver babies, treat gunshot victims and inoculate schoolchildren. In a 1985 sound version of the film, Marvin Breckinridge said, "I've had a rewarding and useful life."

The Forgotten Frontier was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.