These records include correspondence, work reports, inventories, financial papers, legal and official documents, American Consular Service reports on overseas film distribution, descriptions and illustrations for patent applications, scenarios, promotional brochures, miscellaneous printed articles, photographs, and short filmstrips. Representing the first documentary film company in the United States, the Exactus papers also give an interesting background of the early film industry, particularly in California. The Peninsula and southern Bay Area had a good number of studios and at one time rivaled Los Angeles-Hollywood for the center position of the film world. The American Consular Service reports, as well as correspondence with agents for film distribution overseas, give an idea of the very wide-spread interest in and activity of the film industry at this relatively early date.

The Exactus Photo Film corporation of Palo Alto was officially incorporated on August 28 1914. The earlier part of that year had been spent in preliminary organization, establishing contacts, and deciding on a suitable site for an outdoor studio. With the incorporation, Exactus stated that its purpose was "to produce, sell, rent and exchange educational and industrial moving picture films for the use of schools, academies, and universities throughout the state of California, and later throughout the United States."

1.5 linear feet

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