EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
ROCHESTER 4, N. Y.

April 14, 1944

EASTMAN CLASSROOM FILMS GIVEN TO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

To All Users of Eastman Classroom Films:

As early as 1923 Mr. George Eastman envisioned the use of motion
pictures produced specifically for classroom instruction but found that
there appeared little prospect at that time that an organization with
sufficient resources would enter upon a program to produce films of this
type on an adequate scale. An educational experiment was conducted, under
. the supervision of Dr. Frank N. Freeman of the University of Chicago and
Dr. Ben D. Wood of Columbia University, to test their value, and on May 5,
1928, the Eastman Kodak Company founded Eastman Teaching Films, Inc., to
produce a group of 16-millimeter silent films which would provide sufficient
material to warrant the adoption of motion pictures as an integral part of
school curricula.

As a result, Eastman Classroom Films, numbering close to 300 subjects,
in the fields of Geography, Science, History, Health, Nature Study,
Religion, Applied Art, English, Agriculture, and Medicine, were produced
and became the first extensive library of 16-millimeter motion pictures
made specifically for classroom instruction. Pioneering in this field
made close co-operation necessary with educational institutions in this
country in order to work out techniques and set standards for this new
teaching medium.

It can now quite safely be said that the place of motion pictures in
the field of visual education is firmly established. Thousands of films
have been made by various organizations in this country and abroad. More
recently, the idea has been widely used and thoroughly approved by the
armed forces in their training programs.

The University of Chicago has in the past demonstrated its interest
in motion pictures as a teaching medium and expects in the future further
to broaden this program. The Eastman Kodak Company has therefore decided
to give to the University of Chicago the Eastman Classroom Film library. -
It is our understanding that the University will arrange for the continued
distribution of these films and any revisions thereof under the name of
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc.

We are sure that your orders for Eastman Classroom Films, Teachers'
Guides, or replacement footage, and inquiries, placed after May 1, 1944, with
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc., 1841 Broadway, New York 23, New York,.
the distributing organization for the University of Chicago, will be given
prompt and careful service. After that time we should also expect to refer
any such orders and inquiries coming to our attention to them to be filled.
Arrangements as to future transactions having to do with these films should
be taken up anew directly with Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc.

We should like to express our thanks for your patronage and help in
developing this enterprise. The value of the use of instructional films in
educational institutions, industry, and the armed services has been confirmed,
and we feel in the future will be even further petite, cate and improved.

EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

Ye Jiecte

AStuber:M Vice—President