Grade A Milk Collection. Television script and photographs, 1955 and 1958

This collection consists of over a hundred photographs and several annotated copies of a script for a public service television program on Grade A Milk production, processing, and distribution in Illinois. The program, titled "Grade-A Milk: Your Most Protected Food," was telecast over WCIA in Champaign on April 6, 1955. It featured a scripted in-studio discussion between Paul Hartman (Health Education Consultant, East Central Region, State Department of Public Health), Howard McGuire (Milk Sanitarian for the East Central Region, State Department of Public Health), and James Coleman (Shelby County Sanitarian) with accompanying still photographs depicting different aspects of the discussion.

The photographs in the collection include many not used in the television presentation, or that were not referenced in the script. The photographs have not been sorted but are divided into 31 folders in the order they were received. Most folders contain a mix of scenes from dairy farm and factory inspections. This includes scenes of grooming and milking cows on the farm, on-site pipes and storage tanks, "farm to factory" pick up tank trucks, processing machinery in the factory, and cases of milk bottles or cartons. There are also photographs of milk being delivered to residents' door steps and being distributed through the school lunch line. Locations include Mattoon, Shelbyville, Palestine, and Champaign. Companies include Heath, Meadow Gold, and Urbana Pure Milk Company. Students in the lunch room of Franklin Junior High School in Champaign were also photographed.

The collection includes two copies of the script for the 1955 broadcast, each with handwritten corrections and revisions. It also includes a third copy annotated circa 1958 and an accompanying memo from L.R. Davenport (Deputy Director of the Division of Milk Control and Veterinary Public Health, Illinois Department of Public Health) to Howard McGuire. The memo and annotations provide Davenport's recommendations for revising the script to bring it up to date and for selecting photographs to accompany its points.

Dr. William E. Artz, a professor in the University of Illinois Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, donated the collection to the Library in 2002.