Maplewood History: The Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley Trove – Part Four

By
Doug Houser
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3
79

This trove contains many fascinating early images.

According to a couple of history of photography websites, George Eastman, the founder of the Kodak Company, invented film to replace the apparatus and chemicals that professional photographers were using.  If that weren’t enough, he also created a way to make photography less expensive and available to amateurs.

In 1888, he released his first camera, the Kodak #1.  The camera sold for $25 ($796 today) and came loaded with enough film for 100 images.  When the roll was completely used, the camera was sent back to the Kodak factory in Rochester, NY, where it was reloaded and returned to the owner while the photos were being developed.  The cost was $10. By 1900, the camera sold for a dollar and film was 15 cents a roll.

I speculate that William Lyman Thomas was an early customer.  As far as I can tell, it was Thomas who took the photographs on his Memphis trip in 1896. Also among the images that have come down to us through his daughter, Emma Beauvais Thomas are a few of the very earliest of the Kodak images.  They are round.  Later models of the camera could take square and rectangular images.

The first Kodak model #1 was a masterpiece of simplicity. There was no viewfinder and no way to focus.  The user simply pulled a string to cock the shutter, pressed a button to fire and turned a knob to wind the film.

We’ll start off with some of those early round images but first have a look at the camera that would change photography forever.

From somewhere on the internet. Hope they don’t mind.
No information on who these gentlemen were.
But on the back…this is kind of cool.
Same guys, different pose. Same back as the previous image.
Here we have the same image as the one prior but with a slightly, different shape surrounding it. Perhaps a reprint? Let’s look at the back.
Aha. Same year but a different back no longer has the Kodak symbol.  My guess is that it’s a reprint.
Here we have the same thing. This round one has the Kodak back.
And this one doesn’t.
This ad is from 1892, same year as the images.
And from 1891. Unbelievable, ain’t it? So much for the good ol’ days.

There are many more images in this collection.  I want to mention again that this entire collection is now at SHSMO at UMSL.  If you’ve been following this site, you’ll know what that means.

And thanks again to the Sutton/Thomas family descendant, Chrissie Hayes McConnell, for sharing all of this with us.

Good luck to you all in avoiding the virus.  C’mon springtime!

Doug Houser       February 13, 2022

 

 

3 COMMENTS

  1. seeing the cost of a camera makes me surprised that we have so many photos of things from those years. I have to wonder just how common they were for the masses. At the same time I wonder who is buying every new version of the cell phones and can only conclude it is the same today as it was back then. If you really wanted something badly enough you would find a way to get the money to make it happen.

    I have never seen a picture of the original version of the camera but we have one of the old black box cameras that I think we bought at a garage sale for a buck. Quite a change from what it used to cost.

  2. Love the early photos, I remember my mother using a box camera when we were small children , it was great seeing the earlier camera, and the photos it took. I wasn’t familiar with the term safety bicycle. But a regular 2 wheeler where you could easily touch the ground, compared to a penny farthing really was much safer. Thanks for the great article. As always.

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