Assignment: Weights & Measures (1958)

Duration: 18:31

Year Published: 1958

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: Presented by the National Conference of Weights and Measures, “Assignment: Weights and Measures” is a 1958 educational film that questions how weights and measures supervision affects the average American family. In quintessential 1950s fashion, the film follows Bobby Clark (played by Robert Jensen), a young boy trying to complete a homework assignment about what scales have to do with government. With some help from his parents and the local sealer—not to mention a disembodied voice—Bobby learns about how our nation regulates weights and measures at both the macro and micro level. The National Bureau of Standards used “Assignment: Weights and Measures” in its public relations programs for 20 years, screening it at schools or loaning prints to services clubs and businesses. Recognizing its information and style as outdated, the Bureau replaced it with another film, entitled “The Marketplace,” in 1978.