The records of National Educational Television are so voluminous and complex that they
contain nearly every conceivable type of document, including correspondence, minutes,
reports, press releases, evaluation and report forms, scripts, studies and research reports,
tapes, films, etc. The records are arranged in ten series in order to reflect the functional
organization of NET. A detailed statement of the contents of each of the ten series follows
this section.
Programming (1953-1968, 255 boxes), the largest series, consists of a small file pertaining
to the vice-president of that division; subject and title files on program acquisition
during the pre-production era; and later production files for cultural, public affairs, and
science programs. Many of the latter refer to the work of producer Jac Venza. Well
documented programs include The Creative Person,
Environmental Revolution, History of the Negro People, Magazine of the Arts, NET Playhouse, People
and Politics, Population, Through the Eyes of..., U.S.A.: Arts, Music, and Poetry. There is also a file of
programs produced in cooperation with Westinghouse Broadcasting Company for Interel, a
script library, and program evaluations.
Network affairs (1951-1967, 240 boxes), the second largest series, contains an extensive
file on the Joint Committee on Educational Broadcasting, the Joint Council on Educational
Television, and the Fund for Adult Education, three groups whose records NET inherited. In
the papers of the vice-president for network affairs are minutes of affiliate meetings,
profiles of many stations, and an affiliate newsletter.
Somewhat smaller files relate to administration (1953-1969, 22 boxes), development
(1957-1966, 15 boxes), business affairs (1964-1966, 19 boxes), public information
(1954-1969, 44 boxes), research (1953-1968, 16 boxes), and international relations
(1959-1968, 11 boxes). The administrative files concern meetings, conferences, and relations
with the National Association of Educational Broadcasters and include some files of
President John F. White. There is little financial material in the collection, but some
information may be gleaned from business affairs division records which detail the accounts
of several cultural and public affairs programs and from the files of the vice-president for
development who was responsible for fund-raising and procuring research support. The public
information division prepared promotional material on specific programs for ETV affiliates,
the press, and the public; its documentation includes newsletters, photographs, clippings,
press releases, publicity packages, and award material. Charged with maximizing the impact
of ETV, the research division studied audience behavior and station needs and worked with
educators and publishers to broaden utilization of educational programs and develop
instructional packages. Located here are studies by universities and other organizations
with NET grant funds. In addition to the usual office files, there are also utilization
materials on Age of Kings, Environmental Revolution, History of the Negro People, and Population. Eleven boxes record the efforts of the international
division in securing foreign programming.
With noticeable consistency, the internal officers of NET kept their records in reverse
chronological order within individual file folders. For the most part, that arrangement has
been retained. Exceptions include those files that came to the SHSW in complete disarray and
those files kept by individuals outside the physical premises of NET, such as producers
under contract to them, who often had a very distinctive filing method of their own; in
these cases, regular chronological order was often imposed.
In a collection the size of NET, some duplication of information and materials is
inevitable and occasionally desirable. For example, several of the series contain
information on the NAEB, and the JCET-JCEB. Also, press releases are scattered throughout,
despite consistent effort to pull the vast majority of them together in one file in Series
6. Annual reports of the departments can be found in the President's files, VP for
Administration and VP for Network Affairs. Both VP for Network Affairs and BP for
Development files contain Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, which are about the only
documents containing information on the Board in the entire collection, other than an
occasional letter. The rationale for duplication of such items as the annual reports and the
Board minutes, is that when annotated they document the relationship of that particular
office with the Board. Development, for example, played a much more influential role in
Board affairs than Network Affairs.
The collection documents primarily the first decade of NET's existence, 1953-1963.
Especially well documented are NET's station activation activities; its relations with its
affiliates; and all aspects of its programming. Less well documented, but accounted for by a
significant quantity and quality of files are the origins of NET; its relationship with
other ETV organizations; and its public information, development and education and research
activities. Very little or no information is available on the Board of Directors, business
affairs, and the international division.
Overall the collection fails to document fully the motives behind the Ford Foundation's
lavish support of NET for twenty years; the relationship between NET's top executives and
the Board of Directors, between NET's top echelon and Ford, and between Ford and the Board;
and the extent and nature of the Board's activities, whether they played a meaningful role
with viable and responsible assignments or were simply figureheads to add lustre to NET's
facade. The archives as yet include only a few films of NET productions. There are no early
annual reports and no information of the Public Broadcast Laboratory and other such programs
from 1966-1971 when NET really prospered as the 4th Network.
Two strong, recurring themes that run throughout the papers are the need for economy --
there was never enough money, there was never enough frugality -- and the continual and
repeated re-definition of NET's nature and its role relative to commercial television, a
process that seemed to occur almost on a program-by-program basis.
The researcher should note the following documents as being especially useful for either
the inclusiveness or conciseness of their content: annual reports (Series 2A, Box 11,
Folders, 12-13), 1964 Statement of Program Philosophy and Purpose (Series 3, Box 2, Folder
17), Program Development Portfolio for 1962 (Series 3, Box 3, Folder 14), and the
Semi-Annual Reports submitted to the Ford Foundation (Series 3, Box 2A). The researcher
needing information on a specific program or series should check the container list for
virtually every series.
Boxes are numbered consecutively within each numbered
sub-series, for example, Series 8D, Cultural Programming, contains the files of two
directors and four producers, but the boxes are numbered from 1 to 52 within 8D.
