This exploration of the origins of educational communications and technology as a field focuses on the 1920s when the visual education movement first appeared. An explanation of the study precedes separate reviews of 13 primary sources--i.e., visual education textbooks--and draws on them to provide evidence for an analysis of the ideas and forces behind the national movement in visual education. The textbooks reviewed are: (1) "Motion Picture Education" (Ernest A. Dench, 1917); (2) "Motion Pictures for Community Needs: A Practical Manual of Information and Suggestions for Educational, Religious, and Social Work" (Gladys and Henry Bollman, 1922); (3) "Visual Education Teachers' Guide to Keystone '600 Set'" (Keystone View Company, 1922); (4) "Comparative Effectiveness of Some Visual Aids in Seventh Grade Instruction" (Joseph John Weber, 1922); (5) "Motion Pictures in Education" (Don Carlos Ellis and Laura Thornborough, 1923); (6) "Visual Education: A Comparative Study of Motion Pictures and Other Methods of Instruction" (Frank N. Freeman, Ed., 1924); (7) "The Cinema in Education: Being the Report of the Psychological Investigation Conducted by the Special Sub-Committees Appointed by the Cinema Commission of Enquiry Established by the National Council of Public Morals" (Sir James Marchant, Ed., 1925); (8) "Teachers' Guide: Keystone Primary Set" (Laura Zirbes, 1926); (9) "Motion Pictures for Instruction" (A. P. Hollis, 1926); (10) "Fundamentals in Visual Instruction" (William H. Johnson, 1927); (11) "Visual Instruction in the Public Schools" (Anna Verona Dorris, 1928); (12) "Picture Values in Education: A Complete Record of an Experimental Investigation. . ." (Joseph John Weber, 1928); and (13) "Motion Pictures in the Classroom: An Experiment to Measure the Value of Motion Pictures as Supplementary Aids in Regular Classroom Instruction" (Ben D. Wood and Frank N. Freeman, 1929). (JB)