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Stewardship
The Flying Classroom (MPATI)
Image Top: Date c.1960, Repository: Rockefeller Archive Center, Ford Foundation records. Photographs. Series 3: General, Program, and Project Photographs. Sub series 3_4: Educational Television 9ETV). Box 83. Folder 1370. Midwest Airborne Educational Television Program, 1960-1966. Rockefeller Archive Center. Image Middle: Repository Rockefeller Archive Center, Ford Foundation records. Photographs. Series 3: General, Program, and Project Photographs. Sub series 3_4: Educational Television 9ETV). Box 83. Folder 1370. Midwest Airborne Educational Television Program, 1960-1966. Rockefeller Archive Center. The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) records reside at Purdue University Archives and Special Collections. Image Bottom: Creator: Unknown, Date: c.1960, Repository: Rockefeller Archive Center, Ford Foundation records. Photographs. Series 3: General, Program, and Project Photographs. Sub series 3_4: Educational Television (ETV). Box 83. Folder 1370. Midwest Airborne Educational Television Program, 1960-1966. Rockefeller Archive Center. The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) records reside at Purdue University Archives and Special Collections. Original article linked below.
“The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) was not officially PBS, though it operated with similar educational goals. Active in the 1960s, MPATI was a pioneering, non-profit organization that broadcasted classroom lessons from airplanes flying over north-central Indiana to schools across six states. Because it was created to bring educational television to schools before the widespread availability of cable and satellite, it is often remembered alongside classic public television initiatives. PBS itself was officially established later, launching in October 1970.”
(MPATI was based at the Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette, Indiana).
Read the full article “Early Experiments in Public Broadcasting” at:
The Rockefeller Archives.
Photographs used with permission, from the article, "Public Television History and American Foundation," by Barbara Shubinski, viewed online at: https://resource.rockarch.org/story/history-early-public-television-broadcasting-philanthropy/' published by Rockefeller Archive/RE:Source. Article excerpt is shared under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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