The nonrevealing title of Dear Nancy actually hides a sponsored film (Breck Shampoos) that is a remarkably detailed document of early Nineteenth-Century life. The film provides a year-around view of typical activities of rural America by using the authentic settings of Old Sturbridge Village. Craftsmanship, routine work, and recreation are appropriately described in re-creating the atmosphere of a century and a half ago. The attempt to contrast that life with conditions in the middle of the past century does not come off so effectively. Association Films (347 Madison Avenue, N.Y. 17) is the source for this account.

A more explicitly titled film, Not So Long Ago , deals with similar subjects—the community organization and craftsmanship of our ancestors. This film from Cinavision, Inc. (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) uses the backgrounds of both Old Sturbridge and Colonial Williamsburg to explain features of our heritage. Susan Reed furnishes the musical accompaniment for this delightfully informative journey into the past.