1. Abel Gance : hier et demain (29:08)

Date:
1963
Summary:
Focuses on the life of French filmmaker Abel Gance and examines his contributions to the motion picture industry. Explains that Gance pioneered such film techniques as polyvision and the use of the picturegraph and the picturescope. Illustrates these techniques through excerpts from some of his films, including Napoleon and J'Accuse.

2. Alexander Hamilton (18:00)

Date:
1951
Main contributors:
John Allen Krout
Summary:
Presents Alexander Hamilton as a boy-businessman in the West Indies, a student at King's College, the author of the Federalist Papers, the first Secretary of the Treasury, a reformer of the national economy, the champion of a strong, aristocratic government, and a friend to Northern business. Concludes his life with the fatal duel with Aaron Burr.

3. Andrew Carnegie (18:47)

Date:
1951
Main contributors:
Harold F. Williamson, Emerson Film Corporation
Summary:
Reviews the life of Andrew Carnegie from his poverty-stricken youth in Scotland to his leadership in American industry. Depicts his trials and successes in railroading and his development of the iron and steel works which made his huge fortune. Then shows his decision to devote his fortune and energies to philanthropy.

4. Benjamin Franklin (17:11)

Date:
1949
Main contributors:
Emerson Film Corporation, Carl Van Doren
Summary:
Outlines the life and work of Benjamin Franklin while stressing the part he played in important historical events. Presents his life of indenture to his brother; his work as a printer and literary contributor; his experiments with electricity; his service as a diplomat, statesman, and envoy to France and England; and his action as a Revolutionary leader.

5. Captain John Smith : founder of Virginia (19:55)

Date:
1955
Main contributors:
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc., Clarence Ver Steeg, John Barnes
Summary:
Follows the career of John Smith, whose influence and leadership contributed to the firm establishment of the first permanent English colony at Jamestown in 1907. Traces the events in England which preceded the colonists' voyage to Virginia, and shows the natural human obstacles faced by Smith in his efforts to launch the settlement.

6. Daniel Boone (17:47)

Date:
1950
Main contributors:
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, inc., Thomas D. Clark, Emerson Film Corporation
Summary:
Portrays the main events in the life of Daniel Boone. Includes his youth in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, his participation in the French and Indian War, his adventures in exploring and settling Kentucky, his part in the Revolutionary War, and his final settlement in Missouri.

7. Edward Steichen, part IV (29:22)

Date:
1962
Summary:
The format of this final program is different from that of the preceding three. On the sound track is a pre-recorded conversation with Steichen, and on the screen is a series of Steichen’s own photographs, and those of other photographers, from the “Family of Man” collection. Steichen’s remarks form a commentary explaining and describing some general principles of photography, and the details of completing this particular exhibit.The basic element, says Steichen, is love: love of life and of mankind.

8. Eleanor Roosevelt , part I (29:37)

Date:
1959
Summary:
In this program Mrs. Roosevelt and her guests discuss Mrs. Roosevelt’s early life. Mrs. Roosevelt’s education was very sketchy up until the time she went abroad to study at the age of 15. She was a very lonely child and she tells of the influence her grandmother had upon her life. She talks in this program of Theodore Roosevelt, her uncle, as an influence in her early life. She tells of her learning to speak in public and the disciplines of her early life.

9. Escape (26:19)

Date:
1954
Summary:
Focuses on Carl Schurz, a young student who joined an unsuccessful revolt against the tyranny of the King of Prussia, escaped from Prussian soldiers, and emigrated to American. Explains that Schurz became a general in the Union Army during the Civil War, a successful journalist, and an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt.

10. Explorer with a paint brush : Audobon (29:49)

Date:
1958
Summary:
If Peterson helped to remove bird identification from a purely academic procedure, John James Audubon, helped to remove nature form the drawing room appreciation of the Victorian era, and gave living things a beauty and expression on canvas which capitalized on the bird in its natural environment and in living poses. This program will dramatize the life of John James Audubon with dramatic vignettes. His life was exciting; as an explorer who lived with Indians and knew his birds and animals in the wild; as a journalist who recorded carefully what he saw; as a naturalist who was interested in life histories and naming the things he painted; and as a crusader, who in the last years of his life saw that the wilderness of America was being destroyed and pleaded for conservation. The guest on this program will be Joy Buba, sculptures and artist, who did a head of John James Audubon and who spent considerable time in studying his life. Through her comments and the use of some of the folio prints you will see Audubon’s work and hear her evaluate it.