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Among the innovations that changed the world in the period between 1880 and 1910,
the introduction of photography into the lives of ordinary people is sometimes overlooked and
overshadowed by the automobile, the aeroplane, radio, cinema and other notable inventions.
Nevertheless, celluloid film, the hand-held camera, and cheap and easy photography were
developments that were to have an equal importance for our awareness of ourselves and the
world. In February 1900, the Eastman Kodak company introduced the Brownie camera, a
cardboard box with a simple camera mechanism, selling at the incredibly low price of $1.
Eastman Kodak had previously made relatively cheap, portable cameras, but the Brownie was
revolutionary in bringing photography to everybody. What had previously been the preserve of
the professional, and occasional rich amateur, in specially arranged shots, became democratic,
immediate, and ubiquitous. Everything was photographed by everybody: childhood, the passing
of time, events such as birthdays, holidays, street scenes, domestic circumstances, as well as
historic events such as coronations and celebrations, natural disasters and wars. Many great
photographers began their interest in the field with getting a Brownie as a child, but for
many, many more people, the camera became a way of recording what interested them most,
their own lives.
