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Children's Television Workshop Archives
Partially Processed by: Robert Davidson, Robert W. Morrow, Sarah Frazer, Elizabeth Borja, Lillie Lee, and Rachel Yood
November 2004
Total: 510.0 lin. ft.; Processed: ?? lin. ft.
Administrative History | Scope and Content | Provenance
In March 1968 the United States Office of Education, the Carnegie Corporation foundation, and the Ford Foundation created the Children's Television Workshop to research and produce an experimental television program. Twenty months later National Educational Television premiered the Workshop's new show, Sesame Street, the first of a several programs that systematically combined entertainment and education. The Electric Company, a reading show for school-age children, premiered in 1971 and continued until 1983. Two programs for adults-Feeling Good, a health program, and The Best of Families, an historical drama-ran for a single season in the mid-1970s. Premiering in 1979, 3-2-1 Contact taught scientific subjects to older children through the 1980s. Since these early programs, CTW has produced Square One TV, Ghostwriter, Dragon Tales, and several more series, films, and television specials. Children in the U.S. and all over the world watch Sesame Street to this day. In 2000 the Workshop changed its name to Sesame Workshop.
The Archives of the Children's Television Workshop document the founding and organization of CTW and with the public television programming produced by them, notably Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Feeling Good, The Best of Families and 3-2-1 Contact and their domestic and international distribution. The inclusive dates of the collection are approximately 1966 to 1997 with the bulk of the materials from 1968 to 1985. There is very little material concerning Jim Henson, his production company or the Muppets.
The collection is partially processed to date. The processed materials are arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Corporate Records (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat File)
- Subseries 1: CTW Corporate and Program Proposals, 1966-1976
- Subseries 2: Corporate Reports, Budgets, and Newsletters
- Subseries 3: Corporate History, Documents, and Reports, 1970-1975
- Subseries 4: U.S Government
- Subseries 5: Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, and Markle Foundation
- Subseries 6: Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Subseries 7: National Educational Television, Public Broadcasting Service, and National Association of Educational Broadcasters
- Subseries 8: Public Television Stations, Commercial Stations, Canadian Stations, State and Regional Networks
- Subseries 9: Funding
- Subseries 10: Administration and Staff Information
- Subseries 11: Administration and Miscellany
- Subseries 12: Central Files
- Subseries 13: Press Releases
- Subseries 14: Awards
- Subseries 15: Joan Ganz Cooney's Speeches and Testimony
- Series 2: Sesame Street (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Planning and Production
- Subseries 2: Executive Producer's Files, 1968-1975
- Subseries 3: Job Applicants, 1968-1975
- Subseries 4: Unsolicited Program Material, 1968-1975
- Subseries 5: Sesame Street Evaluations, Research Studies, and Articles
- Subseries 6: Educational Testing Service, 1968-1976
- Subseries 7: Audience Surveys and Ratings
- Subseries 8: Sesame Street Live and Sesame Place
- Subseries 9: Sesame Street Promotion
- Subseries 10: Viewer Mail
- Subseries 11: Ancillary Materials
- Series 3: The Electric Company (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Administration
- Subseries 2: Planning Seminars
- Subseries 3: Production
- Subseries 4: Research
- Subseries 5: Content
- Subseries 6: Research Papers and Evaluations
- Subseries 7: Scripts
- Subseries 8: Promotion
- Subseries 9: Viewer Mail
- Subseries 10: Ancillary Materials
- Series 4: Feeling Good (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Production
- Subseries 2: Funding and Development
- Subseries 3: Formative Research
- Subseries 4: Content Material
- Subseries 5: Administration
- Subseries 6: Promotion
- Subseries 7: Outreach
- Subseries 8: Audience Response
- Subseries 9: Summative Evaluation
- Series 5: The Best of Families (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Program Development
- Subseries 2: Funding
- Subseries 3: Production Content
- Subseries 4: Scripts
- Subseries 5: Promotion
- Subseries 6: Audience/Ratings/Ancillary Materials
- Series 6: 3-2-1 Contact (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Proposals and Reports, Administration
- Subseries 2: Program Development 1977
- Subseries 3: Scripts
- Subseries 4: Research
- Subseries 5: Promotion
- Subseries 6: Ancillary Materials
- Series 7: Program Projects (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Series 8: Public Affairs Miscellany (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Subseries 1: Memos, Correspondence and Administrative Files
- Subseries 2: General Files
- Series 9: Production Miscellany (Box Inventory (Adobe Acrobat file))
- Series 12: CTW International Programming
- Subseries 3: Individual Country Files 1970-1985: Processed files concern Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain
The unprocessed materials are arranged in the following series:
- Series 10: Research Miscellany
- Subseries 1: Research Files
- Subseries 2: Edward Palmer's Research Papers
- Subseries 3: Topic Files
- Subseries 4: Data Files
- Subseries 5: Miscellany
- Series 11: Press Notice of CTW and its Programs
- Subseries 1: Press Notice Compilations
- Subseries 2: Original Clippings
- Series 12: CTW International Programming
- Subseries 1: Overall International Documentations
- Subseries 2: International Miscellany
- Subseries 3: Individual Country Files 1970-1985
- Series 13: Outreach and Community Service
- Series 14: CTW Research Library
- Series 15: Oversize Documents and Media
The Archives of the Children's Television Workshop was donated to the National Public Broadcasting Archives, University of Maryland Libraries by the Children's Television Workshop in September of 1994, November of 1995, and March of 1998.
