The Centron Corporation was founded in Lawrence, Kansas in the late 1940s by two University of Kansas (KU) graduates, Russell Mosser and Art Wolf. From 1947 to 1981, Centron was engaged in the production of films, filmstrips, multi-media presentations, and social etiquette films. Their first film, “Sewing Simple Seams,” was completed in 1947. Centron often hired locally, leading to many films including Lawrence residents as actors in Centron productions.

Centron’s productions included independent films and contracted films; the company created employee training films for their contracted clients. Their clientele spanned across several industries and included companies such as Phillips, Humble, Conoco, Skelly, General Electric, and the Spencer Chemical Company, as well as the American Medical Association, Harvard University, John Deere, Sabena Belgian World Airlines, and KU.

In addition to their contracted work, Centron created several social etiquette films, such as “What About Prejudice,” “The Bully,” and “Innocent Party,” though some of their most popular productions were travelogue videos that covered such locations as South America, Korea, and China. These productions placed Centron in competition with Coronet and the Encyclopedia Britannica, two other educational film producers.

Centron earned an Academy Award nomination for their work with “Leo Beuerman,” a documentary film about a Lawrence resident with physical disabilities. Centron won over 485 film awards from 35 different U.S. film festivals and 23 foreign film festivals.

In 1981, Wolf and Mosser sold Centron to Coronet films. Robert Kohl assumed leadership of Centron during this time, and Centron continued producing films until 1994, when the Centron Corporation dissolved.

The original Centron production studio was sold to KU in 1991. The university renamed the building Oldfather Studios, and it was used as the KU Film and Media Studies building until 2017. Oldfather Studios was demolished in 2021.

[Information taken from collection materials.]