[cmoore330]

I work at a university in Oklahoma and recognize your pictures. We have three boxes of these photos that I believe were used as teaching aids. Each photo has a brief sentence attached to the back similar to what you would see on an AP photo.

One box highlights 1900-1930, one is 1930-1950, & the last is 1950-1970. So I am guessing they were issued in the 1970's. I didn't count how many are in each one, but 50 per set would seem about right.

They were distributed by:

National Educational Aids, Inc.
PO Box 3351
Milwaukee, WI 53208

A quick Google search doesn't turn up anything on the company, so I would guess they are long gone. There is also a (long)letter enclosed in each box that reads the following:

"PLEASE NOTE: The pictures in this set are arranged in an order that correlates with the teacher's guide (I haven't seen this by the way). We suggest you read through the guide before changing them.

Our pictures have been carefully selected and researched to represent the heritage of the American way of life. Although chronologically organized, they represent more than historical fact. They are thematically arranged to include the changing mores, the ingenuity of the American conscience, and the human foibles as well as the milieu of American achievement. the thematic organization not only pictorially depicts the development of our heritage, but can be used to garner the student's interest by creating an atmosphere analogous to the time period being studied. Men learn in many ways. The educational process is indeed a very visual experience. teachers, who talk about a period of time when little else reinforces those ideas expressed, are not using all the resource they command. Very often the student's senses are not assaulted enough or in a sustained manner so as to create the desired mood. Once the mood has been created, the teacher's job becomes much simpler. He has created an environment that matches the ideas he desires to present. Our program can greatly assist you in creating this illusion.

The pictures are not captioned allowing for greater versatility. That is, you can remove the captions from the teachers guide (A-HA) and attach them to the pictures; you can add a personal flair by making your own captions based on our research; or you could allow the students to research the pictures and make their own captions.

The program that we offer finds strength in the versatility that it offers. The pictures lend themselves to any number of disciplines including history, English, humanities, economics, etc. Teachers have successfully used our series in many ways. the pictures can be hung or placed about the classroom creating the desired mood. They can be used to create interest and motivate students to ask more about them and the concepts they represent. Students can also use the series in an individualized manner as part of a research paper or project. Teachers have also found that the pictures are excellent tools to generate meaningful class discussions.

The innovative possibilities become unlimited as the pictures provide an educationally sound stepping-stone for truly creative teaching."

Hope that helps! I am going to ice my hands now since I haven't done that much typing in years!