Textbook Cases: Postwar Adolescent Development in Crawley Films' McGraw–Hill Film–Text Series.

This article examines a series of mental hygiene films produced by Crawley Films in the 1950s to supplement Elizabeth B. Hurlock's 1949 McGraw–Hill textbook, *Adolescent Development*. These films embody the post-World War II "mental hygiene point of view," a psychological framework that shaped sex education and family life curricula by promoting conformity and normative adolescent development. The article highlights the complex negotiations between Hurlock, McGraw–Hill as sponsor, and Crawley Films in adapting textbook content to film, revealing tensions over cultural representation, content sensitivity (e.g., treatment of masturbation), and marketability. Archival correspondence illustrates how these films balanced educational aims with corporate interests, reflecting broader mid-twentieth-century social guidance efforts that combined progressive pedagogy with social engineering.