Integrated files on the development of television broadcasting at NBC, 1930-1950, consisting of correspondence, memos, reports, booklets, studies, press releases, news clippings, promotional items, scripts, blue prints, and related items. The bulk of the files are for the period 1935-1949 and consist of material from the offices of several NBC departments and divisions. Arranged first by year and then by subject, the files are fragmentary and lacking in consistency, but they nevertheless contain much that is of value in documentating early development of television.

A significant portion of the files concern such topics as NBC's relations with the FCC, the role of RCA in television technology, and engineering problems and operations. There is also noteworthy coverage of surveys of early television audiences, experiments in television programming, and the use of film in broadcasts. Throughout, NBC's concern about competition is evident. Noteworthy here is a 1935 confidential report on the experiments conducted by Philo Farnsworth and, for the 1930s and 1940s, correspondence and reports on CBS television activities. For the mid-to-late 1930s there is significant documentation regarding interest in television experiments in England and Europe.

Although World War II brought a halt to television development by NBC and RCA, the post-war period files document NBC's push forward quite well. These later files also concern competition, technical advances, and related topics. In addition, there is material on the establishment of an NBC station in Washington, D.C., and the development of program sponsorship. A number of files concern specific programming. Of special interest are the scripts A Television Demonstration for Mr. Sarnoff, dated May 10, 1937, and adaptations of The Butter and Egg Man and My Heart's in the Highlands.

Throughout the files many NBC personnel are represented. Among the most prominent are Merlin H. Aylesworth, Bertha Brainard, William F. Brooks, Charles Denny, George Engels, O.B. Hanson, William S. Hedges, Stockton Helffrich, Frank E. Mason, George McClelland, Alfred H. Morton, Max Jordan, Richard C. Patterson, John F. Royal, and Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr. Oversized material is located in Box 563, Folder 2.