Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1922)

The NATIONAL ACADEMY of VISUAL INSTRUCTION OFFICERS President: F. W. REYNOLDS, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Vice-President: G. E. CONDRA, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. Secretary: J. V. ANKENEY, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. Treasurer: CHARLES ROACH, Iowa Slate College, Ames, Iowa EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE W. H. DUDLEY, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin F. W. REYNOLDS, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah G. E. CONDRA, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska DUDLEY GRANT HAYS, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Chicago W. M. GREGORY, Cleveland School of Education, Cleveland W. C. CROSBY, State Department of Education, Raleigh, North Carolina A. G. BALCOM, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Newark ,New Jersey A department conducted by the Secretary for the purpose of disseminating Academy news and thought COME to LEXINGTON APRIL 18, 19, and 20! THE THIRD annual meeting of the National Academy of Visual Instruction will be held at the Hotel Lafayette, Lexington, Kentucky, April 18, 19, and 20. Every Academy member should plan to attend. If the Academy is not what you would like it to be, join with us and help make it what it should be. The program committee realizes that the Academy must be more than an organization that meets once a year, listens to addresses, and goes home. It must do things. Provision has been made on the program for ample time to plan the work of the Academy for the new year. The Academy is barely two years old ; it is working in a new field. A great future field of service awaits it if we all work and plan together. Tuesday, April 18, will be devoted to registration; reports from the field; classroom methods of using lantern slides; quality in lantern slides; a national slide-negative library — is it feasible? The officers and members of the Academy will be the guests of the Kiwanis Club on Tuesday. Tuesday night, 8 o'clock: Commercial Men's Night. Their committee has charge of the program. Wednesday: Film Research and Methods Day. Discussion and roundtable on topic "What Specific Services in Relation to Films Can the Academy Render to Visual Education?" Wednesday night: Joint banquet for Academy members, University Extension Association members, and visiting guests. $2.00 per plate. Thursday: Joint session of University Extension Association and Academy. Conference of heads of state distributing centers. Academy business session and reports of committees. Programs will be mailed to members as soon as off the press. If you are not a member write the Secretary for your copy. The commercial men will be there with exhibits of machines, slides, films, etc. Reservations for new exhibit space should be addressed to W. M. Gregory, Cleveland School of Education, Cleveland, Ohio. Room reservations should be made as soon as possible through Wellington Patrick, University Extension, University of Kentucky, Lexington. Suggestions for the Distributors' Conference should be forwarded to J. W. Shepherd, Norman, Oklahoma. Suggestions for the Roundtable Conference will be received by the Secretary. State vice-presidents, directors of visual-education science, and city supervisors of visual education are urged to prepare exhibits of their work and either bring them in person or forward them to the Secretary, Lafayette Hotel, Lexington, Kentucky. They are also urged to put reports on slides and be prepared to present them at the meeting. J. V. Ankeney, Secretary of the Academy. [A paper read before the Second Annual Meeting of the Academy by R. F. Egner, member N. A. V. I., and now with the Visual Instruction Division of the University of Utah.] NEW FACTORS INTRODUCED AND PROGRESS MADE IN VISUAL INSTRUCTION DURING THE PAST YEARS WHEN was the visual method of conveying thought or ideas founded? In what way was it first brought into effect? We will probably never know, for its origin may be traced back to the mysterious dark ages of symbolism. The evolution of visual materials may then be followed briefly on up to the present time. We know of the strange hieroglyphics and sculptural figures, pictures, and drawings on the walls and in the caves of France, Greece, Italy, China, India, and along the Valley of the Nile, from which resulted the basic ideas and progress. In 1657 the first illustrated textbook ("Cerbis Pictus") was written by Comenius, and in England, along about 1833, pictures and picture toys became very attractive mediums for both play and study. This in 1861 inspired the development of the patented dinematoscope, a device used for moving photographs. As early as 1868 New York State was engaged in collecting lantern slides. In 1872 we have experiments and improvements in photography by Edward Muybridge, and in 1887 his discovery of pictures that produced motion by using a successive number of cameras in photographing racehorses, introduced for the first time instantaneous pictures. Edison's experiments in 1893 revealed new progress in photography and motion-picture films, and in 1894 Francis Jenkins introduced the first successful motion-picture machine. Development in photographic work and production of stereopticon slides, motion-picture films, and projection machines followed, but progress was rather slow and no unusual educational value was obvious, particularly through the motion-picture film. Even ten years ago little was known and realized as to the educational value of the motion-picture film, and the stereopticon slide was a rare educational medium to the average person. The slide and film, upon being experimented with as to their educational value, were used more frequently as they grew into popularity, and today we are living in an age when the eyes of practically all educators are turned upon teaching by the aid of visual materials. The noted prominence of the motion-picture film became evident only several years ago, and its effectiveness in conveying messages to the brain may doubtless be compared with telegraphy in carrying messages to people. Methods of classroom instruction have hardly changed during many years, while modern inventions along numerous lines have progressed rapidly. A system of education on a par with inventions is urgently needed. The visual method may be and appears to be the educational invention that measures up with other inventions, especially when noting the marked activities the last few years have brought with them. Educational institutions and social, civic, and religious organizations throughout the country are awakening to the visual movement, and have come to realize the importance and practicability of assuming part of the responsibility to introduce the film and slide, by paying rental or service charges, and thus have removed one of the greatest barriers to building up large libraries of visual materials. Co-operative plans to carry on mutually advantageous visual services have been inaugurated, and questionnaires are sent out by many visual-instruction bureaus to compile information and statistics. Societies and associations for visual education have been instituted for the purpose of bringing together persons to discuss problems of production, distribution, and proper use of visual ma(Continued on page 30) 16