Since Wichita's McCormick Elementary School closed in 1992, its building has functioned as the McCormick School Museum. Sustained by community volunteers, the museum is a window into what school was like in the Wichita of the 19th and 20th centuries. On Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., the museum is hosting its annual movie night, showing vintage short educational films using antique filmstrip projectors.

“The film last year was ‘They Said It Couldn’t Be Done,’ and it had engineering feats like the Hoover Dam, the Transcontinental Railway, the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very, very interesting,” said Cynthia Davie, the museum’s volunteer operations manager. “These are films that, if you have the titles, you can just go online and watch them, but you completely miss the ambience of the projector machine and the lights turned down in the classroom.”

This year, topics include properties of light, proper behavior in the school cafeteria, emergency civil defense procedures, and historical footage from the McCormick School, among others.

Today, it’s trivial for teachers to pull up internet videos and incorporate them into lessons, but in the 1950s and 1960s, a movie at school was a big event, Davie noted. The museum’s 16mm film night seeks to recapture some of that momentousness. The event has a $10 suggested donation; popcorn and lemonade will be served.

The McCormick School Museum’s regular hours are Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to noon and Sundays, 2-5 p.m. For more info, go to www.mccormickschoolmuseuminc.com.

— Sam Jack is a contributor to the SHOUT.

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