Edison touts educational films in The New York Times

Thomas Edison’s proclamation that films would soon overtake books in the educational sphere can be partially ascribed to the significant financial stake he held in these early years of motion pictures. However, the sheer existence of this New York Times piece combined with Edison’s celebrity at the time serves as strong evidence of the growing importance of moving images in the classroom and the rapidly expanding market that accompanied them.

Photographs of later educational film advertisements are included here to demonstrate the market that Edison predicted and cultivated.

Ford Educational Weekly. “Americanization--The Teacher’s New Task,” December 1920. Media History Digital Library: Lantern.

Various advertisements; The Educational Screen. 1922-1956.