Brownie Cameras

In the 1800s, before the Brownie camera, photography was a difficult and often expensive process. This process made it hard for ordinary people to take pictures. When the Eastman Kodak Company introduced its new Brownie cameras in February of 1900, photography became available to everyone, including children. In fact, the Brownie was designed and marketed especially for kids.

The Brownie camera was very easy to use. It was a simple box with an opening in the front for light to reach the film, a small viewing screen on top, and a switch to expose the film. The film came on easy-to-load rolls. Kodak named the Brownie camera after popular characters created by Palmer Cox (1840–1924), a children's book author and illustrator, in the late 1800s. Using Cox's characters, Kodak marketed the camera in popular magazines where children would see them. Kodak encouraged kids to enter picture contests and join Brownie clubs. Brownie cameras were an instant success. They cost only one dollar, plus fifteen cents for film. Approximately 150,000 cameras shipped the first year, triple the previous sales record. Kodak produced the Brownie for 70 years, eventually offering 125 different Brownie models. Brownies were usually brown or black, but some models were bright colors. Some Brownies had flash bulb attachments for taking pictures in dim light.

The Brownie cameras were such a success because now everyone could take pictures. People could make photo albums of family pictures that captured parents, friends, relatives, and images of daily life. These photos helped preserve cherished memories for generations of people. In a story told on the Kodak Web site, one man remembered, "During a recent family reunion, my aunt shared many of the pictures she had taken with that [Brownie] camera over the years. Those pictures brought back many cherished memories of all the good times that have passed. As she went through the pictures, my aunt told me a story about each one. I heard how my Uncle Tommy won a photo contest at the boys club back in the fifties using that camera." In bringing photography to everyone because of its affordability and ease of use, the Brownie camera became a cherished part of American family life.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Auer, Michel. The Illustrated History of the Camera, from 1839 to the Present. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975.

"The Brownie Camera @ 100: A Celebration." Kodak.com.http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/brownieCam/index.shtml (accessed December 13, 2001).

Collins, Douglas. The Story of Kodak. New York: Harry Abrams, 1990.