THE TWENTIETH CENTURY FUND
330 West Forty-Second Street
New York 18, N.Y.

April 27, 1951

Mrs. Velma Carson
Morganville
Kansas

Dear Mrs. Carson:

Before I wind up my final reports on �The People Act�, I would like to tell you how much it has meant to me to have been associated with this outstanding project. There certainly can be no doubt that the series really started something, that it has made an immeasurable contribution to the cause of educational radio, and that, although the broadcasts are now over, the idea behind the series will live on in many ways for a long time to come.

We have already told you about some of these ways. I�d like to bring you up-to-date. Before I go into the results of the radio series, I think the following information will interest you and all our Field Representatives.

The programs had unusually high ratings in the first time period (December 9 to January 20) for public service sustaining programs. Unfortunately, these ratings dropped after the time was changed to an earlier hour when ratings are always lower - but they are still significant.

When �The People Act� went on the air, 89 stations in the NBC network of 180 stations were carrying LIVING-1950, of which our series was a continuation. �The People Act� picked up a number of stations: 102 carried the entire series; 124 carried it in the first time period; and 118 carried it in the second time period.

The Voice of America, as you know, rebroadcast the series in English to Europe and the Orient. Later it added South America to its coverage. The Pan-American Union asked permission to translate the scripts for use in seminars in South America with the object of stimulating similar group projects there.

The National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia Broadcasting System are both seriously considering producing more programs of this same type. Several influential national organizations have expressed an interest in underwriting similar programs. The Office of Education in Washington has asked for recordings of the programs for permanent distribution to American schools and other educational groups.

A number of national publications have scheduled articles about the series and some of the individual projects in it. Readers Digest, for instance, tentatively plans to run an article on Morganville in its July issue, and another piece on the series later. The State Department�s magazine, Amerika, which goes to Russia and Yugoslavia, is at work now on a feature story. Many of the Scholastic Magazines have already run articles on �The People Act� projects (Stonington and Decatur) and advise us that they intend to run others from time to time. There will undoubtedly be articles in other publications as time goes on.

Social Action, the publication of the Social Action Committee of the Congregational Christian Churches, is devoting its entire April issue (which will be off the press in a few days) to eight of the projects in �The People Act�. Only a lack of space prevented their running all thirteen. We regret, exceedingly, that the very vital stories from Bat Cave, Arkansas, New York City, Decatur and Toledo had to be omitted for this reason only, but since a choice had to be made, the editor selected the eight that he felt would be most appropriate for the magazine�s readership. You will receive a copy of this magazine shortly.

You will also receive copies of the promotion and audience response reports on your project, as well as copies of the promotion and audience response reports on the series as a whole, and a copy of the general evaluation report.

Also, in time, we expect to present you with a sixteen inch 33 1/3 RPM recording of your program, if we succeed in working out an agreement with the American Federation of Radio Artists.

Before I sign off I want to tell you how much I regret that my association with most of our Field Representatives has been by mail only. However, I have delved into the project so thoroughly by way of Elmore McKee, his research on the stories, the scripts and other bits of information, that I do, in a way, feel as though I know each Representative. If, in the future, I should ever find myself in or near your communities, I should consider it a privilege to have the opportunity of meeting you in person.

�The People Act� has been a heartwarming and enlightening experience for me, as I know from your letters that it must have been for all members of �our team�.

The Twentieth Century Fund greatly appreciates your contribution to �The People Act� and Thomas R. Carskadon, Chief of the Education Department, who supervised the series for the Fund, has asked me to say that he hopes you will write to him if there is any way in which the Fund can be of help to you. The same applies to me and I can be reached at my home, 31 Sutton Place, South, New York 22, New York. Elmore McKee, as you know, is now with the Ford Foundation and can be reached at their offices at 575 Madison Avenue, New York 22, New York. Again, I offer my thanks for your help and send all good wishes.

Sincerely yours,

(sig: Mary B. Ford)

Mary B. Ford
Associate for Radio