Broadcasting America: The Rise of Mass Media and Communications

Broadcasting America is a digitized primary source collection that documents the history of RCA and, more broadly, radio and television broadcasting in the United States. At the heart of the collection are the personal papers of David Sarnoff, radio and television broadcasting pioneer who had major leadership roles in RCA from 1919 through his retirement in 1970. Sarnoff's papers are housed at the Hagley Museum and Library in in Wilmington, Delaware. Broadcasting America also includes other related collections from the Hagley Museum and Library, which include advertisements from popular and technical publications, annual reports, pamphlets and trade catalogs (including those for Atwater Kent, Philco, Victor Talking Machine Company, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, and RCA), publicity photographs, product information, promotional and technical publications, and corporate records. 

The collection also includes pamphlets on broadcasting selected from the Mass Media & Culture Pamphlet Collection at the Special Collections and University Archives of the University of Maryland. Topics covered by pamphlets include market research on audience demographics,discussions on free speech and censorship, tips for successful on-air advertising, debates on the impact of television on children, and broadcasting about, by and for people of color.