Civil rights activists, war tax refusers, supporters of local agriculture and advocates of simple living Wally and Juanita Nelson left an outsized impact during their decades in Franklin County.

While many might be familiar with the broad details of the Nelsons’ lives – Wally died in 2002, while Juanita died in 2015 – a new audio documentary by local folklorists and longtime producers Carrie and Michael Nobel Kline, who knew the Nelsons, brings together 25 interviews from people who worked with and knew the Nelsons during their time in the Valley.

The hour-long documentary, “Eyes on Freedom: Evolving Gifts of Simple, Nonviolent Living,” will premiere at the Sunderland Public Library on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to all and will be followed by a community discussion. The Klines worked with production assistant Nicholas Boyer and the project was commissioned by the Nelson Legacy Project, which seeks to bring the Nelsons’ ideas and beliefs to the world.

In bringing together more than two dozen voices, who each sat down for a 90-minute interview, Carrie Nobel Kline said the goal was to weave these stories together into a story that “no one person could tell.” Michael Nobel Kline added the weaving of voices together with no narration creates a more relaxed historical learning experience, as he likened it to “a bunch of people sitting on the porch nudging each other’s memories.”

“No person could tell it alone, it’s got all these different perspectives. We call it conversational history because it doesn’t have a lot of scholarly interpretation,” Michael Nobel Kline said. “It’s not some all-knowing, all-seeing voice that assumes to be the authority, the authority comes from the people who actually lived it.”

Wally and Juanita Nelson moved to Deerfield in 1974 and created a small homestead, without electricity or running water, on three-quarters of an acre of land at the Woolman Hill Conference Center.

In their time here in the Pioneer Valley, the Nelsons founded the Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters, the Greenfield Farmers Market and the Valley Community Land Trust. Following her husband’s death, Juanita’s work continued, as she helped launch the Free Harvest Supper.

They were known for their simple living, as well as their principal philosophy for nonviolent activism: “You don’t gotta.”

“The Nelsons did not live a life of deprivation, they lived a life of joy. And they didn’t expect other people to necessarily do what they did, but they’re certainly an example of trying to live more ethically and joyfully,” Carrie Nobel Kline said, adding the Nelsons’ main philosophy was to “really think about the effects of your life beyond our own home and to find a way to build community.”

In the era of loneliness and political division, Michael Nobel Kline said this piece on community networking, non-violent living and simplicity is “very timely.”

“What this piece offers is a model of how people can come together on a community level and find ways of supporting one another,” he said, adding community is a way to support each other. “These people weren’t talking about Democratic policies or Republican goals, they were talking about human goals and reaching out to people, who like the rest of us are oppressed by the current situation, no matter which party is in charge.”

“Programs on local history have always been very popular here at the Library, and Wally and Juanita Nelson are an important part of that history and beyond. Indeed, they are known nationally,” Sunderland Library Director Katherine Umstot said. “Some of the people whose voices are heard in this audio tapestry will be present at the premiere and will participate in a discussion after the presentation. We are so pleased to be able to offer this program to our library patrons and to the public at large.”

A second premiere of the documentary will be held at the Arms Library in Shelburne Falls on Friday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m. The Klines said they would love to host other community listening sessions around the region and anyone interested in setting one up should contact kline@folktalk.org.

“Eyes on Freedom” also serves as an episode of “Talking Across the Lines,” the Klines’ podcast offering “wit and wisdom on race, class, the environment and local history,” which can be found at folktalk.org.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.