The Paley Center for Media is committed to the idea that many television and radio programs are significant works and should be preserved for posterity's sake. Instead of collecting
artifacts and
memorabilia, the Paley Center comprises mostly screening rooms, including two full-sized theaters. Nearly 160,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs are available in the Paley Center's library, and during each visit, viewers can select and watch shows at individual consoles, and radio programs are accessed through these same consoles. Some television programs are from the 1940s with radio programs dating back to the 1920s. The earliest TV program in the museum's collection is a silent film of NBC's 1939 production of
Dion Boucicault's melodrama
The Streets of New York (1857), with
Norman Lloyd,
George Coulouris, and
Jennifer Jones. The museum does not sell the material or permit it to leave the premises. Viewing copies of television programs are
Hi-8mm video tape dubs. The originals are kept in a vault outside of New York City, and the collection is being digitized. The Paley Center has acquired many lost episodes of classic television shows and has produced
documentary features about the history and impact of television and radio. In recent years, the center has sponsored advance viewing of the
pilot episodes of each network's new programs. '' at an "Onstage @ Paley LA" event Television and radio shows are added to the collection after archival discoveries and through donations from individuals and organizations. In 2002, the museum held a showing of the previously unseen rehearsal film of
Rodgers and Hammerstein's
Cinderella telecast from March 17, 1957. This rehearsal was found in the
CBS vault while the museum was on a quest for other "lost"
Cinderella materials. It had been believed that on the night of the live broadcast the show was preserved on both
kinescope and
videotape and then transmitted to the West Coast. Seeking either of these, Jane Klain, the director of research at the New York facility, asked CBS to search their vaults. The CBS database listed three 16mm films featuring five-minute segments of
Julie Andrews performing in the show. When the earliest one was brought from the CBS vault, it was discovered to be the full dress rehearsal. The center is also known for its many discoveries involving daytime game shows. Episodes of
destroyed shows such as
High Rollers,
Celebrity Sweepstakes,
The Money Maze, the
Chuck Woolery version of
Wheel of Fortune,
To Say the Least, and daytime
Hollywood Squares episodes are all available for viewing in the library. Episodes of other game shows like
Tattletales, ''
Let's Make a Deal, and The Gong Show'' are in the library. ==Programming and education==