car: Sterling Marlin

In 1888, George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak and introduced the first Kodak camera. Marketing for the camera included the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest.” The original Kodak camera was easy-to-use—there was no control for the exposure time or aperture. The camera came pre-loaded with a 100-exposure roll of flexible film. After taking the pictures, the customer was instructed to mail the camera back to the factory to have the prints made. Kodak next introduced the flexible camera film sold by the roll and later produced the film for the first motion pictures with sound, yet, it was the company’s involvement in the world of amateur photography that is most remembered.

In 1900, Kodak offered The Brownie, which sold for one dollar. Replacement film cost 15 cents. The Brownie derived its name from Palmer Cox’s children’s book series, “The Brownies.” Kodak founder, George Eastman, recognized the role of women and children in integrating cameras into daily life. The company’s advertisements soon targeted these groups directly. Kodak marketed The Brownie in popular magazines, sponsored a Brownie Camera Club for children under age 16, and hosted special events to keep consumers engaged. Kodak brought photography into the hands of amateurs and demonstrated that cameras are intended for learning, preserving memories, and play.

Following World War II, Ben and Harry Cooper founded Cooper’s Camera Mart in Baltimore. When Ben’s daughter, Martha, was three years old, Cooper gave her a Baby Brownie. On the weekends, he would bring her on outings sponsored by the Baltimore Camera Club. When his daughter became competent with one camera, he would give her a more advanced model.

Following college, Martha Cooper became a photojournalist. Her early pieces documented the work of Horibun I, a traditional Japanese tattooist, and the burgeoning graffiti scene in New York City. In the decades since, Cooper’s photographs have appeared in “National Geographic,” “Smithsonian,” and “Natural History” magazines, and have been exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and Urban Nation in Berlin, among others.

In the 1970s, Cooper also began a photographica collection with a focus on women with cameras and Kodak advertising. The collection also included postcards, valentines, snapshots, doll cameras, figures, wind-ups, play cameras, and figurines.