Encyclopaedia Britannica Films

Encyclopaedia Britannica Films was an American distributor of educational media that operated from 1943 to 1995. It began in 1928 as Electrical Research Products Inc. Classroom Films, producing 16mm sound films for schools, and was renamed after publisher William Benton acquired the company in 1943 along with the Encyclopaedia Britannica reference work. Under later leadership including Maurice Mitchell, the company produced acclaimed educational films on science, history, literature and social studies through the 1950s and 1960s, several earning Academy Award nominations, before closing production in 1995 as videocassettes and digital media replaced 16mm film in classrooms.