The NAEB records are arranged into six parts: (1) CENTRAL CORRESPONDENCE, (2) WILLIAM G.
HARLEY SPEECHES, (3) SUBJECT FILE, (4) NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL RADIO FILES, (5) OFFICE OF
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FILES, and (6) PUBLICATIONS AND NEWSLETTERS.
The records of the NAEB span the years 1925 to 1977, although the coverage is uneven. The
records available for the period 1925 to 1950 provide fairly thorough documentation on the
association's early history and activities. Most complete are records for the period 1950
through the late 1960s, particularly those created by NAEB executive staff. The records from
this period document not only the association's history, but the multitude of issues then
facing the entire profession. There are no division-level records available for (1)
Educational Television Stations, (2) Instructional Division or (3) Individual Member
Division. Records are fragmentary for the period 1970 to 1977, and there is no documentation
for the period 1978 to 1981.
The CENTRAL CORRESPONDENCE was created by executive staff of the NAEB and is arranged
chronologically. Much of the documentation in this part of the collection deals with
administrative and financial matters. Less extensive, but often more substantive, is
correspondence with members concerning the association's activities. These files contain
some of the earliest documentation of the ACUBS/NAEB, including a 1925 report on the Fourth
National Radio Conference, the meeting at which ACUBS was founded.
The WILLIAM G. HARLEY SPEECHES consists entirely of remarks delivered by the NAEB president
(1958-1975) and president emeritus (1976-1978), including presentations to the NAEB board,
executive committee, and openings of meetings and conventions. The speeches are arranged
chronologically, with statements made before the Federal Communications Commission and the
United States House of Representatives and Senate filed separately in box 17. Prior to
assuming the top-ranking position at the NAEB, Harley had served as professor of
Radio-Television Education at the University of Wisconsin and as program director of
WHA-Madison. A significant percentage of the speeches in this series were presented to
Wisconsin audiences.
The SUBJECT FILE is arranged alphabetically and are the core of the NAEB collection. The
files were maintained in the NAEB headquarters in Urbana, Illinois, and later in Washington,
D.C. Although significant portions of the collection are summarized below, researchers are
urged to read the container list carefully. These files contain the only set of records on
the NAEB Board of Directors in the collection. In boxes 19-23 are board minutes (1947-1969),
correspondence with the executive staff (1951-1962), and a small subject file. Also
important are the records on the association's legal counsel, Cohn & Marks, which
include many materials related to the FCC and the Educational Television Facilities Act.
Records of NAEB's many committees are arranged alphabetically in boxes 27-37. Committee
records typically include minutes and reports, in addition to correspondence with the
association's leadership. Files documenting the many conferences that the NAEB sponsored or
co-sponsored are contained in boxes 37 to 41 and include programs and agendas, lectures and
speeches, instructional materials, and some near-print items. Photographs of the Allerton
Seminar and University Broadcasting Council are arranged in the subject file under
“Photographs.” Records on the activities of individual non-commercial stations
are arranged by state in boxes 77 to 80, while activities involving post-secondary
institutions are filed under the heading “universities and colleges” in boxes 86
and 87. A scrapbook file consists of news clippings related to NAEB sponsored programming,
grants, conferences, seminars and workshops and spans the years 1951-1956. The NAEB assisted
in organizing and advising many other groups interested in various aspects of educational
broadcasting, which are also arranged alphabetically, including: Joint Committee on
Education Television (later renamed the Joint Council on Education Broadcasting), the
Educational Media Council, and the Association for Educational Radio-Television. Records
related to the NAEB's sponsorship of special projects and grant funding are located in boxes
55 through 60, listed under “Foundations,” “Fund for Adult
Education,” and “Grants-in-Aid.” Of particular interest is a project
directed by Marshall McLuhan funded through Title VII of the National Defense Education Act
to develop instructional materials. The McLuhan files span the years 1958-1963 and contain a
substantial amount of correspondence about his ideas and theories. Records on the
development of the Education Television Facilities Act of 1962 are located in boxes 66-67:
while information on NAEB's work with U.S. government agencies (mostly the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare) is in box 85.
The NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL RADIO FILES are arranged in three parts: daily correspondence, a
divisional subject file, and a 1966 survey of state radio networks. The daily correspondence
files, which are arranged chronologically, consists largely of out-going correspondence to
radio station directors, usually dealing with NER administrative and financial matters. The
NER subject files offer insight into the division's central activities during the
mid-to-late 1960s including: new technologies (such as satellite communications), copyright
law revision and the “fair use” doctrine, FCC rulings, and a 1966 Wingspread
Conference on educational radio. The files do not document the division's 1973 merger with
National Public Radio. The 1966 survey of state radio networks includes information on
staffing, technology and financing of non-commercial radio stations. Survey data is arranged
alphabetically by state and includes a summary report.
The OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FILES document three projects in which the NAEB was
involved during the late 1950s to mid-1960s: a government contract to deliver educational
television via satellite to American Samoa: a “utilization project” to develop
television programming to augment school curriculum: and a project with the Midwest Program
on Airborne Instruction Inc. to recommend procedures for UHF channel allocations.
The PUBLICATIONS AND NEWSLETTERS consist of two parts, both of which are arranged
chronologically. Publications files, 1930-1964, include mostly promotional materials and
brochures, membership lists, annual reports, revisions of the NAEB constitution and small
pamphlets not suited for cataloging. Also available are several NAEB newsletters, including
the general membership Newsletter
(fragmentary: 1930-1967); the President's newsletter under varient titles (President's Memo, 1954-1966: Washington Newsletter, 1963-1965: and the
TV Engineering Newsletter, 1955-1957.
