Descriptive Entry

These records primarily document the planning for University of the Air (after 1988 Smithsonian Project Discovery) and The Buried Mirror. Many of the records were created by Elizabeth S. Brownstein, media project development specialist, Office of Telecommunications (OTC). Also included are files of Adrian Malone, production chairman, and Edward W. Bastian, project manager and director for University of the Air. The records include correspondence, memoranda, proposals, prospectus, reports, research information, budgets, illustrations, photographs, scripts, articles, newspaper clippings, audio tape recordings of music, video discs, and marketing information. Also included are information files maintained by OTC on Smithsonian museums, bureaus, staff, and miscellaneous topics.

Historical Note

In 1986, the Smithsonian Institution began planning two major educational television projects. University of the Air, a joint project of the Smithsonian, WETA Television, and Adrian Malone Productions, proposed to investigate the lives of major twentieth century intellectuals and the basic themes that connected their work. In 1988, the title of the project was changed to Smithsonian Project Discovery. The Buried Mirror was a proposed ten-part television series on the history and culture of Iberia and Latin America to be produced by Malone Gill Productions in association with the Smithsonian. Both projects were terminated because of funding difficulties.