1. Riddle of the seas : Matthew Fontaine Maury, oceanographer (21:17)

Date:
1973
Summary:
Teaching Film Custodians abridged classroom version of a Cavalcade of America television series episode, "Riddle of the Seas" (season 2, episode 24), which originally aired April 6, 1954 on ABC-TV. Relates the mid-nineteenth century story of the life work of Matthew Fontaine Maury, founder of the United States Weather Bureau, who advanced and proved his revolutionary theory that the paths of the sea--winds, currents, and temperature--could be accurately predicted and charted. The teaching objectives included are: to introduce the study of weather and related field of oceanography and meteorology; to illustrate scientific methods of research; to demonstrate the practical applications of reflective thinking; to inspire interest in the work and the character of a significant American scientist.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Homespun (20:34)

Date:
1955
Main contributors:
Elmer Albinson, Harry Webb, Mandelina Oberg
Summary:
Shows 70-year-old Mrs. Mandelina Oberg, a farm wife originally from Sweden, working at her weaving. She tells in her own words how she shears goats, prepares and dyes the wool, and weaves it on her loom. Shows her using her spinning wheel, bobbins, and loom, all handmade of wood.

8. Lafayette, Soldier of Liberty (16:15)

Date:
1955
Main contributors:
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc., Leo Gershoy, John T. Bobbitt
Summary:
Presents highlights in the life of Lafayette with emphasis on his service to the United States. Portrays his friendship with Washington and shows the part he played in the Revolutionary War. Reveals how he fought for a constitutional government in France and concludes by telling of his abiding love for America and the honor bestowed on him by this country.

9. William Shakespeare (25:21)

Date:
1955
Summary:
Traces the course of William Shakespeare's life from his boyhood in Stratford through his career in the London theatre as actor and dramatist. Presents excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, As you like it, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Macbeth as they would have been performed on the stage of Shakespeare's own theatre, The Globe.

10. 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.