Francis Holley

Francis Holley (1868 – December 12, 1923) was an American railroad engineer and co-founder of the Bureau of Commercial Economics. Its film library was one of the largest of the kind in its day, and the only one that was international.

Early life and education Francis Holley was born in Cook County, Illinois, in 1868. including a trip to Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany for treatment. While there, the German government was holding in Düsseldorf its biennial exhibition of the manufactures of the empire. This exhibition was also a vocational guide to the youth of Germany at government expense. Holley conceived the idea that the exhibition would be even more of a success if taken to the homes of the boys by means of motion pictures. He told his idea to the then kalser and to the minister of education. They approved and told him to go ahead. He did so and met with considerable success, despite the inadequacies of the motion pictures of those days. In 1913, he began to organize the bureau with Anita Maris Boggs.

Selected works The Army of the Vigilantes, Recruiting for National Defense, 1916 (text)