The Library is pleased to announce the successful completion of its 2024-2025 grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) to preserve It Happened in the Kitchen, a film produced by Cinecraft Productions for the Modern Kitchen Institute in 1944.
The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is a nonprofit organization committed to preserving America’s film heritage by safeguarding historically and culturally significant works and making them publicly accessible. Through its funding, the NFPF ensures that select films held by nonprofit libraries and archives are preserved to the highest standards—producing new prints on stable film stock. Since most 20th-century films were created using materials that deteriorate over time, duplicating them onto newer film stock remains the gold standard for long-term preservation. Given the high costs of film-to-film preservation, NFPF’s support is vital for nonprofit institutions that protect films made outside the commercial mainstream.
With NFPF support, Hagley has now preserved seven films, and a new grant awarded this year will allow us to preserve number eight. Invitation to Ohio (1964), a film produced for Ohio Bell Telephone and the Ohio Department of Development to attract new business to the state, is the latest film from our collection to receive funding from the NFPF.
Here are all of the Hagley films preserved by the National Film Preservation Foundation:
The Heart of Cleveland (1924) – Sponsored by the Cleveland Illuminating Company to promote rural electrification.
The Romance of Iron and Steel (1938) – American Rolling Mill Company film on steel production, the earliest surviving work by Cinecraft Productions.
It Happened in the Kitchen (1941) – Industrial film produced by Cinecraft Productions for the Modern Kitchen Bureau.
The Magic Key (1950) – Short film commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce promoting advertising as a key to prosperity.
The Story of Creative Capital (1957) – Animated film sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the role of investors in capitalism.
Where’s Joe? (1972) – Co-sponsored by the United Steelworkers Union and several steel companies, warning workers about foreign competition
Freewheelin’ (1976) – B.F. Goodrich-sponsored film documenting the “National Truck-In,” a van festival in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
We are deeply grateful for the NFPF’s continued support of Hagley mission to preserve and share these important works for generations to come.
Chief Curator of Library Collections and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Audiovisual and Digital Collections