Here’s something I should have linked to long ago, which only occurs to me now that I have this handy way to quickly add new links to this website.
Elma G. ‘Pem’ Farnsworth, the widow of Philo T. Farnsworth and affectionately known by all who knew her as ‘The Mother of Television,’ died last May at the age of 98. But sometime back in the 1990s, she conducted a series of videotaped interviews with historians for the Acadamy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS). Extensive excerpts of those interviews are available online via Google Video
Pem Farnsworth worked beside her husband from the moment they were married in 1926; she was present the night in 1927 when the first successful experiments with electronic television were conducted, and shared all of his trials and tribulations throughout their lives together. Hers is perhaps the single most valuable first-hand account of those early years. Serious students of this subject will want to spend some time viewing these videos.