The concept of the Miami University Audio Visual Service (AVS) was born in 1949, when one staff member worked part time to meet the photographic needs of the campus. The addition of two more staff members in 1951 expanded the Audio Visual program. The three full-time staff members were provided a facility in what was then known as “Building C.” “Building YY” became the next home of the Miami University Audio Visual Service and was part of a complex affectionately called “the shacks.” The following year in 1956, the Ford Foundation provided funds for extensive expansion of the Audio Visual Service through an all-university research grant. Three additional members expanded the staff and many pieces of equipment were procured. The Audio Visual Service was an integral unit in the total university structure. In 1958, the Audio Visual Service was provided a new home in Gaskill Hall. By 1963, increases in faculty requests for services necessitated the organization of a Consultation Unit. Each faculty member now had a liaison representative within the Service to discuss, interpret, and provide for their instructional needs. In 1966, Title VI of the Higher Education Act was instrumental in providing for additional items of audio-visual equipment and materials. The program also provided for laboratory equipment at departmental levels across campus. In 1968, the Office of Instructional Resources Planning was established. This new division was designed to coordinate the activities of several instructional services on campus, including Audio Visual Service. By 1972, The Audio Visual Service was also assigned responsibility for campus closed-circuit television services. This new service complimented existing areas of activity for AVS. Responsibility for photography and print and negative production fell primarily to the unit’s Materials Production Service. During the 1992-1993 Fiscal Year, the Miami University Audio Visual Service became Applied Technologies, a division of Miami Computing and Information Services. Many of the photographic negatives and copy negatives in this collection were created by the Miami University Audio Visual Service, or the antecedent or subsequent iteration of the AVS.

The development of the Miami University Audio Visual Service, n.d., folder “Audio/Visual Service,” Miami University Building Files, The Walter Havighurst Special Collections and University Archives, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Miami University Audio Visual Services client guide, n.d., folder “Audio/Visual Service,” Miami University Building Files, The Walter Havighurst Special Collections and University Archives, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Applied Technologies Annual Report, 1992-1993, May 1993, box 15, folder 4, Audio Visual Services Collection, The Walter Havighurst Special Collections and University Archives, Miami University, Oxford, OH