The Digitized Kodak Catalog Project 1886 to 1941

A couple of weeks ago I received the CD with the Kodak catalogs from 1886 to 1941 that was produced by Rob Niederman and Milan Zahorcak. Now I have had the time to have a good look at it, and here is what I found.
When you put the CD in the drive it starts the explorer (if you have a Windows computer, I don't know about Apple), in which you will see a list of 9 folders and files.

There is a START-HERE.html file and it is quite obvious that you have to start by double clicking that one. Doing so opens a page in your internet browser that acts as a kind of menu. You can choose between several options, like clicking on one of the catalogs.
The picture below on the left shows the menu page.
You can go directly to a catalog by clicking once on the picture of the catalog you want. A PDF opens with the complete catalog. You can scroll through it in the usual PDF way. See the pic below right.

A very nice option is that you can search every word in the catalog. I did so with the word "enlarging". See the illustration. With the 'next' and 'previous' arrows you can navigate through the search results.

This is one way to find information, but there is more. Remember the START-HERE page. One of the menu options is: globally searching the catalog library. Click on it and a new page opens with instructions how to search all the catalogs with one search. This is a real magnificent option. Imagine, you can find every word in all the Kodak catalogs from 1886 to 1941! I tried it with "folding kodet" and got a list of hits.

On the left you see the list of hits. Every catalog in which the search string 'folding kodet' is found is presented as a folder. You can open the folder and see all the pages from that catalog in which the search string was found. Click on one of these and on the right you get that page. See the pic above.

Are there things you can not do? Yes, you can not print a catalog. But who should want that? If you need an illustration of a camera or catalog text, you can make a screen print and trim it with any picture editor.

This digital collection is one of the best things that happened to the Kodak collector for many years. You can not only find info on a camera, but also read the forewords in the catalogs. These often contain information about the important developents of that year and the way Eastman Kodak tried to make use of them.

I am happy with this CD? Yes! Should you buy it? I would say 'yes', but that is what you have to decide yourself. I hope this description is helpful.

To end this blog I show one page from the 1895 catalog about the Pocket Kodak.

On the page you read about a Plate holder for the Pocket Kodak, a very rare item, but I am so lucky to have one in my collection. What I do not have is a Pocket Kodak in its case. There was a very fine one on eBay, but the starting price of Uncle Sam $ 475 was a bit high. I hoped no one would bid and the camera would be relisted, but no, someone did bid and got it for the $ 475 plus $ 40 postage. Ten years ago I would not have hesitated to go for it, but nowadays this price is too much. I will wait for another one to turn up.



A victorian lady's summer sunday afternoon

Learning by doing is, I think, the best way to learn anything. Also I don't like to read instructions. So I installed my Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and began experimenting. I started with the full installation, with the trial version of Photoshop and the contents CD of Premiere, but my notebook wasn't so happy with that. It was so slow and often just stopped working that I de-installed everything and started all over with only the main programm of Premiere, not the content CD. The result is better, but not perfect. Sometimes parts of the editing just don't work and the programm closes, resulting in loss of work. Now I save the file every few minutes.
Nevertheless it is much fun working with Premiere Elements 10. There is so much in it, that I have only scratched the surface of all posibilities. In my first experimental film I have experimented much with two or three films imposed over each other, fading in and out. Here it is: (take care that your speakers are turned on loud enough!)

A Vistorian Lady's

Summer Sunday Afternoon

A Kodaksefke Production

eBay stereo & a rare 4A Speed Kodak plate back

To start with the plate back: that is the latest addition to my collection. It fits beautiful to my No. 4A Speed Kodak camera. The plate back was sold for $ 7.50 during the period 1909-1913. A double glass plate holder did cost $ 1.25.

The camera itself appeared in the 1908 catalog, but the plate holder back first appeared in the 1909 catalog. (Many thanks to Rob Niederman and Milan Zahorcak for their Kodak catalog CD, from which the pic is taken.)

Then to the stereo stuff. A couple of days ago a very nice No. 2 Stereo Brownie salesman example card was sold for $ 39. I did not buy it because I allready have a Stereo Brownie card, but I don't know if that was a good decision. See for yourself.
The building could very well be a part of Kodak Park. It sure looks like that. See the Brownie camera on my site.

Not yet sold are three stereo cameras. The first is a No. 2 Stereo Brownie in very nice condition, although the strap is broken. Still 9 days to go. If you want one, this would be a nice one.
The second camera is the second version of the Stereo Kodak Model 1. See the pic below on the right. Still 6 days to go.
The third one is also the second version. See it here. You can buy it now for $ 499 or make an offer. The first version of the Stereo Kodak Model 1 camera you can see on my site.

The CD with all the Kodak catalogs did arrive and far above you can see a page from the 1909 catalog (4A Speed Kodak). I will have a better look at this CD and report on it here.