The magnetic anisotropies in evaporated polycrystalline nickel films have been measured with a torquemagnetometer over a range of fields from 10 to 2000 oe. The films are deposited in a vacuum better than10−8 mmHg, and the measurements are carried out in the vacuum system at pressures below10−9 mm.The magnitude of the induced uniaxial anisotropy has been measured as a function of temperature up tothe Curie point of nickel (360°C), and the kinetics of the magnetic annealing process have been measuredfrom room temperature to 200°C. The anisotropyKudecreases roughly linearly with temperature aboveroom temperature, reaching zero near the Curie temperature. Iffis the fraction of the annealing processcompleted at a given temperature, we find that1−f = exp(−t/&tgr;)13, and1/&tgr; = 1/&tgr;0 exp(−9000/RT).