Welcome to the Library. Unlike material in the Archives section, these artifacts are sourced from publications that were available to the general public. Here, you will find many articles no longer available elsewhere, that will give you an insight into the early days of television, from mechanical to electronic. This is also where you will find more information about programming and shows, and a variety of other related topics that I hope you will enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee
Complete with pictures and drawings, this 1931 article from Science and Mechanics takes us on a tour of CBS’s W2XAB facility in New York…one of the first experimental television stations in the U.S.Read More »
From the early 1970s, here a copy the 31 page Norelco PC 70 catalog. This was television’s “new kid on the block” camera…the one that gave the big kid on the block (RCA) a run for the money and brought the Plumbicon tube to the forefront. Thanks to our friend Scott Baker for the use […]Read More »
A brief, but informative look at the ATT effort to span the continent with new coaxial and microwave relay systems to enable television from coast to coast.Read More »
One of the leaders of Bell Labs had an idea of how to show the black and white movies of those days in color. This idea seems to be a lot like what we finally got in electronic color TV, with the use of mirrors and color filters.Read More »
Discussions of 1929 TV milestones like ‘color over a wire’ and other events are described, but TV had yet to prove its broadcast potential and the closed circuit possibilities are discussed here. In their wildest dreams, they never envisioned what TV has become.Read More »
“Where Television Stands Today” is an 8-page article written for Modern Mechanics by one of the most important names, and true pioneers, of broadcasting. It’s a very interesting read.Read More »
From Everyday Science and Mechanics, a few quick notes on the state of mechanical and electronic television progress, including the lens drum and diagrams of European sets.Read More »
Suffice it to say that TV has come a long way, but this 4 page article from Modern Mechanics published in October of 1933 is quite interesting.Read More »
The true father of television as we know it shares his thoughts on the new medium’s future. This may be one of the earliest interviews with him, but even if it’s not, it’s interesting to see his thoughts in the context of the times in which he lived. Remember, the Great Depression was in full […]Read More »
Now this is interesting! Here is a Modern Mechanix article from November 1937 that is complaining about TV. Not the abundance, but the lack! London had 5,000 sets in use while there were only 150 in New York. A lot of finger-pointing about why…leads us back to $$$. Yes, patents were an issue and no […]Read More »
Here are two very interesting articles with great pictures to show what it took to make people look ‘normal’ in the early years. Wow!Read More »
Engineering types will love this great discussion on transmission techniques. Coaxial, long wave and more is discussed here in depth in a very good article. Also, the problems from lack of standards is talked about at length.Read More »
When I first saw this, I was very curious how this could possibly happen with no coaxial cables or repeaters. The answer is in another article on this page: “1938, Where is TV Now?” The short answer is long-wave transmission, but read the other article for the inside scoop. Read More »
Wow! This nine-page article from Mechanix Illustrated is full of pictures, but the story is the biggie. TV had a lot of problems getting off the ground and a lot of those are laid out here. Sarnoff is being pushed by the government, costs of development are explored, problems with linking the coasts, and a […]Read More »
This four-page interview found Philo at age 33 and comes four years after his first major interview above. By now, he and Mr. Sarnoff are probably well acquainted.Read More »
The question of the day: the choice between the CBS color wheel (sequential field system) or the RCA electronic dot matrix.Read More »
This is one of the first articles I’ve seen that starts to move the thought process away from the mechanical “spinning color disk” (CBS) concept to a more electronic (RCA) concept.Read More »
This is about as good as it gets! These 11 pages from the January 1949 issue of Science Illustrated lays it all out! From how many stations and where, to where the new coaxial cables are running, picture sizes, how many sets in use and much much more.Read More »
Popular Mechanics shows in detail how one of the 1952 political conventions would be televised from Chicago. These were major broadcast events, and the amount of equipment and people brought in is just amazing.Read More »
Great article on how the first coast-to-coast, split-screen telecast of the 1954 Oscar ceremony was done. Awards were handed out in New York and Los Angeles at the same time, and the full story of how it was done is all here. This should bring back a lot of memories on how much Ma Bell […]Read More »
A one-page article on the DuMont Electronicam and its use on Jackie Gleason’s classic program The Honeymooners. It combined television and film. .Read More »
Here is a 1955 article on some of the special effects Ernie Kovacs used on his program, an early pioneer in TV magic and electronic wizardry.Read More »
The more of this old stuff we see, the more the new ideas seem “not so new”, don’t they?Read More »
This short article in Popular Science is about the early home video tape offerings. It’s a long way from there to where we got with Beta and VHS.Read More »
From the Thraumatrope to the Video Walkman, the milestones are all here, in a brilliant 24 page creation from our friends at The American Museum Of The Moving Image.Read More »
An in-depth look at the development of videotape as we know it. This 24 page article is one of the best I’ve seen on the history of videotape.Read More »
From NBC’s internal files, here are documents on NBC’s iconic signature sound as it has changed and endured over the years.Read More »
A 290 page collection of RCA’s in-house journal of advances in mass communication technology from 1948-1950.Read More »
General Electric looks to the postwar years in this 1944 catalog.Read More »
Want to do a program at one of NBC’s facilities? Here’s how much it would have cost you back then.Read More »
Behind the scenes of John Cameron Swayze’s “Camel News Caravan.”Read More »
NBC looks at the development of color television in this document.Read More »
A selection of articles about the opening of NBC’s first purpose-built Hollywood facility, which it occupied until 1964.Read More »
The New York Times alerts readers to the first telecast from NBC’s Burbank facility.Read More »
An NBC press release heralds a new studio at NBC’s Burbank facility, December 1983.Read More »
TV Guide takes a look at progress in color television technology, and on the last two pages, shows us rare images inside NBC’s first color facility…The Colonial Theater and the RCA TK40 prototype cameras.Read More »
Ed Sullivan stage manager Eddie Brinkmann gives a glimpse of what you didn’t see on camera. He was the Stage Manager for Ed Sullivan from Day 1, till the end, and worked on many of the biggest CBS shows of the era.Read More »
A glimpse behind the scenes of the on-air tests of CBS’s mechanical color system.Read More »
A special tribute to Don Pardo’s 70-year career as the voice of countless programs.Read More »
Here’s a catalog for a pioneering line of early televisions.Read More »
Press releases and documents regarding coverage of the 1948 political conventions.Read More »
An eight-page brochure for DuMont’s very odd, flying spot television system.Read More »
Three pages of historic articles on the start of the iconic Chicago station.Read More »
Here is the 24 page GE PE 250 catalog, followed by the 8 page introduction of the GE PE 350 color cameras. ABC used a lot of these, and so did stations in the southeast and southwest as GE offered heavy discounts to try and get a bigger piece of the markets. Thanks to Scott […]Read More »
A retrospective look at the medium’s first quarter-century, produced by NBC.Read More »
And you thought 3-D television was a new thing. Ha!
Again, it’s amazing how so many ‘new’ ideas are so old!
A special look at CBS Television in 1955.
Here’s a catalog for GE’s 1951 offerings.
A magazine for viewers of NBC’s “Home” program.