1. "Kodak & Our Lizzie"
Posted by Kat on Oct-19th-02 at 2:08 AM

I suppose it's possible that the snap of Lizzie at Newport was a candid, after all.  I picture some young buck with a new gadget cajoling her to pose.  I can even imagine Lizzie would want her OWN Camera!

KODAK
Camera Name                  On the Market     Film       Price
The BROWNIE Camera 1900 1901           117       1.00
No. 1 BROWNIE Camera 1901 1916       117        1.00
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera 1901 1924       120        2.00
No. 2 BULLET Camera    1895 1896        101      8.00
No. 2 BULLET Improved Camera 1896 1900 101 or single plate holder                                                                             10.00
"A" Daylight KODAK Camera 1891 1895 daylight loading $8.00
"B" Daylight KODAK Camera 1891 1895      "            "          15.00
"C" Daylight KODAK Camera 1891 1895 daylight loading  25.00
                                                                          or glass plate adapter

1885 - EASTMAN American Film was introduced - the first transparent photographic "film" as we know it today. The company opened a wholesale office in London, England.

1886 - George Eastman became one of the first American industrialists to employ a full-time research scientist to aid in the commercialization of a flexible, transparent film base.

1888 - The name "Kodak" was born and the KODAK Camera was placed on the market, with the slogan, "You push the button - we do the rest." This was the birth of snapshot photography as millions of amateur picture-takers know it today.

1889 - The first commercial transparent roll film, perfected by Eastman and his research chemist, was put on the market. The availability of this flexible film made possible the development of Thomas Edison's motion picture camera in 1891. A new corporation - The Eastman Company - was formed, taking over the assets of the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company.

1891 - The company marketed its first daylight-loading camera, which meant that the photographer could now reload the camera without using a darkroom. The manufacture of photographic film and paper was transferred to four newly-constructed buildings at Kodak Park, in Rochester, and the company's first manufacturing plant outside the U.S. was opened in Harrow, England.

1892 - The company became Eastman Kodak Company of New York.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/aboutKodak/kodakHistory/kodakHistory.shtml

(Message last edited Oct-19th-02  2:09 AM.)

Edisto, do you have an opinion as to the date of this dress
and / or child's outfit, so we might get an idea of the date of the camera as William suggests?

I see an even better clue -- and one that's right up my alley!
Let me do a little research...I do notice the woman has the large puffed sleeves, which might indicate it's later than 1890.
Okay...the woman's hairstyle and attire appear to be of the Gibson Girl era, which would place them (probably) in the 20th century.  The interesting thing to me is that the child (whose apparel isn't much of a clue, because children's fashions don't change as fast as adults') is playing with a teddy bear.  There were certainly stuffed animal toys before the teddy bear was conceived, but the toy in this picture looks like the classic teddy.  There's some controversy over the origins of the teddy.  The Brits claim it was named after their King Edward VII, who ascended to the throne after the demise of Victoria in 1901.  His childhood nickname was supposedly Teddy.  I think the more believable story is that the Teddy was named after President Theodore Roosevelt.  Roosevelt, on a hunting trip, was said to have spared a bear cub whose mother had been killed by a hunter.  The event was immortalized in a 1902 cartoon, and the teddy bear came into being.  The combination of the mother's costume and the teddy make me think the picture is probably from the first decade of the 20th century.  That's just a guess, of course.  If we could identify the model of camera, we could probably come even closer.

(Message last edited Oct-19th-02  7:00 PM.)

Thanks!  That was grand!  Interesting clues you found in the picture.
I think the camera then, would be after 1901.  (There were "Brownie's)

So I suppose it's a guess as to who/what type camera took that picture of Lizzie at Newport.
I wanted it to be a candid, but I think that's stretching the dates.

Do you think Lizzie would want one of the 20th century models?  I can see her posing in her gardens for Emma....

When I was a kid in the 40s, people were still using cameras that looked a lot like the one in the picture.  In those days, things were made to last.  Most people had the newer "box" cameras that didn't fold up, though.

If the newspapers had no way to reproduce photographs in 1892 in the papers, then they wouldn't be running around taking photo's, right?

These photo's that are not sanctioned by the police, then , would have been commissioned by the book publisher or by ?


For you Edisto:  from Stef....

The one where Lizzie arrives is too big a file for me to attach.
If Harry or Stef knows how to shrink the file, would you please & post the new attachment?

It's called "Arrival of Miss Lizzie Borden at the Police Station"

(Message last edited Oct-19th-02  11:49 PM.)

From Porter, Edwin H.
The Fall River Tragedy
Fall River
1893
Rpt. Flynn, Maine, 1984.

[Thanks for the help!]

(Message last edited Oct-20th-02  12:23 AM.)

Like Bill Gates and DOS, or AT&T and the transistor, George Eastman copied the roll film from a clerical inventor in Newark NJ. I don't remember much reading from 25+ yrs ago about this, but there was a patent law suit over this. (As I remember.)

Well, of course the newspapers did use illustrations; they just weren't able to reproduce photographs.  It seems everything had to be black and white -- no shades of gray.  It's possible that they used photography and then had their artists do sketches that could be reproduced in the newspapers.  I suppose some of the artists were adept at quick sketches, but some of the illustrations seem to have a lot of detail and capture more action than an artist could easily do on site.

OH! That makes sense!
I couldn't figure that out.  I was also trying to picture a photographer standing there in the street with his big tri-pod and that WOOSH! flash thingy.  Looks a bit rainy out...

OH, and let's find Lizzie in the photo...(?)

Kat, what type of file is that photo?  I tried to save it to my computer to blow it up and see if Lizzie can be seen in it, but, my computer can't read it. 

Are you referring to message #7 ?

I clicked on edit to see what the attachment said, and it was a JPG...for it to be acceptable here it would also need to be 75K or under.
???? <<<those are little AQUA question marks.  Aren't they cute?

(Message last edited Oct-29th-02  4:44 AM.)

I don't know what the problem is then, I have saved JPG. photos before with no hassle.  When I click on it I get a Windows message that says Windows can't read the file and needs to know what file created it in order to read it.  I tried. 

Yes, very cute little aqua question marks, can you do blue for Lizzie?

We're all in blue already.
I'm trying to find a way-out color that it won't accept.
BTW:  Stef made that photo.  I believe it started as a scan from Porter.  She sells Porter/Pearson with Pictures over at the Museum/Library.  She created those too, the ones with photos.

Maybe because it came out of a pdf file that was a book?
I can't send it to you either, as I'm a Mac.  Oh, well.

Well, there is a site that Windows will take you to and if you know what kind of file it is, you can download the program that is needed to read it.  I'll try the pdf. and see what happens. 

OK, I get cha.
I just went and opened the photo of Lizzie's Arrival and it was created through  "CanoScan"....the Central Police Station was made with the program   "Adobe Photoshop 5.5"