The proceedings of the first national conference on visual literacy held in Rochester, New York (March 23-6, 1969) contain papers describing the concept of visual literacy (defined as vision competencies of integrating and interpreting sensory experiences fundamental to learning and communication). Related research is explored in areas such as automatic control of visual displays by the viewer's attention, effects of visual stimuli on verbal behavior, visual discrimination in beginning reading, electronics and photography, and a computer-syntactic approach to sentences and pictures. Also presented are the topics of visual literacy relating to television and to implications in the schools including papers focusing on elementary and secondary schools, college level programs, and teacher education. A final section discusses aspects of community programs in the area of visual literacy. (RD)