Coelln, Ott.

Publisher and editor. Coming from a background in journalism, education, and business, Coelln held an early assortment of jobs, including junior public relations man, advertising manager for a club hotel, printer, teacher, and journalist. He founded the magazine Business Screen in June 1938 and served as its editor and publisher for thirty years. Under his leadership, Business Screen became the primary trade journal for the business and industrial film community, and in 1945 received the Industrial Marketing Award as the nation's best-designed business magazine. Coelln also pioneered a similar publication, See & Hear, for the educational film industry. During World War II, he served as an industry coordinator to the War Production Board and as a consultant to the Office of War Information. In the 1950s, Coelln acted as an informal advisor to the American Library Association on selection of films suitable for the ALA's nationwide film loan facilities. Coelln has also been active in the establishment of organizations for the promotion of business and educational film. He was a founder of the Industrial Audio-Visual Association (IAVA) in 1947 and received its Service Award in 1953. He assisted in the founding of CINE and the American Association of Film Producers (AAFP) as well, and was rewarded with honorary life memberships in each. Realizing the need for a permanent home for documentary and other factual films, Coelln joined with Steve Knudsen, then director of the Media Resources Center at Iowa State University, to help establish the American Archives of the Factual Film (AAFF) in 1974. For these achievements in the field of non-theatrical film, Coelln was awarded the Eastman Kodak Gold Medal by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in November 1992.