Educational Slide Series, ca. 1920 | University of Illinois Archives

The Visual Aids Service, established in 1932 at University High School "for the purpose of promoting visual education in Illinois and of building a library of visual aids for the use of schools and other educational organizations in the state,"¹ became a section of the Division of University Extension in 1934,² just a year after University Extension was established as a full-fledged division.³ Developing from a cooperative library⁴ with only a few reels⁵ to "the world's largest educational film lending library,"⁶ it provides films and tapes to the University, to schools, and to community organizations and it conducts training programs in the classroom use of audio-visual aids.⁷

1. Catalogs and Registers, 1935-1936, p. 351.

2. Helen Farlow, History: The University of Illinois Division of University Extension, 1933-1968, A Progress Report, p. 61.

3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 37th Report, September 26, 1933, p. 374.

4. Farlow, History, p. 61.

5. Ibid., p. 8.

6. Ibid., p. 5.

7. Ibid., p. 61.