Kodak and the Dawn of Amateur Photography

Kodak and the Dawn of Amateur Photography

Kodak 2, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1145

In 1888, the American entrepreneur George Eastman launched the Original Kodak, the first hand camera to come preloaded with a roll of 100 paper negatives. A simple box camera, the Kodak—marketed with the slogan, “You press the button, we do the rest…”—operated by means of a shutter released with the simple push of a button. Not only did it do away with cumbersome equipment, but the new device also relieved consumers of the technical knowledge and labor required to develop their photographs.

Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company, Original Kodak camera, case, and box, 1888, Photo credit: Peter Schultz

Once all 100 exposures were completed, the entire camera was boxed up and shipped to Eastman Kodak headquarters in Rochester, New York, where lab technicians produced direct contact prints from the round negatives, resulting in the characteristically circular Kodak 1s and 2s. Five-to-ten days later, one’s prints would arrive by mail along with the camera re-loaded with another 100 negatives. Thus began the age of snapshot photography.

Kodak 1, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1137

Kodak 1, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1141

Kodak 1, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1135

Kodak 1, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1138

Kodak 2, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1144

Kodak 2, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1147

Kodak 2, 1888-89, Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2019.1148