During the years 1919 to 1921, laryngologists performed tonsillectomies on approximately 15,000 school children in Rochester, NY. The operations were done on weekends in public tonsillectomy clinics established under the philanthropic aegis of Mr. George Eastman, founder and first president of the Eastman Kodak Company. With parental consent, neighborhood children with enlarged tonsils were transported to the clinics by school buses on Saturday mornings. Tonsillectomies were performed on Saturday, and following overnight observation, the children were sent home with instructions to remain at bed rest for five days. Dr. Albert Kaiser, a prominent local pediatrician and personal friend of Mr. Eastman, conducted an extensive outcomes study involving a subset of 2,200 children who underwent tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at the clinic (TA group). These children were compared with a control group (C group) of 2,000 children with enlarged tonsils whose parents refused to grant consent. The two groups were studied three years later and again at the end of ten years. There were no cases of immediate operative mortality. The rates of recurrent sore throats for the TA group were: 36% before surgery; 3% at three years; and 10% at ten years. For the C-group the rates at the corresponding times were 40%, 40% and 35%. The rates for purulent otitis media (OM) for the TA group were: 15% before surgery and 5.5% at ten years. For the C-group the rates of OM at the corresponding times were 12% and 6.8%. The rates for pneumonia in the TA group were: 6% before surgery and 3% at ten years. For the C-group the rates of pneumonia at the corresponding times were 8% and 1.7%. Tonsillectomy offered no benefits in the prevention of recurrent attacks of rheumatic fever or chorea. Dr. Kaiser concluded that tonsillectomy should be performed selectively, based on the recommendation of the child's pediatrician, rather than on the size of the tonsils. He reported his observations in six journal articles and in the book Children's Tonsils--In or Out: A Critical Study of the End Results of Tonsillectomy, published in 1932, dedicated to George Eastman.