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EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

The Eastman Kodak Company was founded in
1892, 12 years after George Eastman, an amateur
photographer with barely an elementary school
education, invented a machine that put forth pre-
coated dry plates and formed a succession of busi-
ness ventures focused on the new field of consumer
photography. The development of this company
reflected relentless technical innovation undertaken
by Eastman and others, including Thomas Edison.
In 1879, Eastman had traveled to London, the
intersection of business and photography, and
acquired a patent for his new product. By the fol-
lowing year, Eastman began to commercially man-
ufacture pre-coated dry plates in a rented space in
Rochester, New York. Successful in this venture, in
1881, Eastman formed a partnership with business-
man Henry A. Strong to form the Eastman Dry
Plate Company. However, in 1884 this firm evolved
into the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company,
with a total of 14 shareholders. Eastman also
invented the first transparent roll of film.
From the somewhat unlikely location of Roches-
ter, New York, in the western part of the state, the
Eastman Kodak Company ushered in amateur pho-
tography, constantly innovating and seeking to keep
the price of its products low enough to allow wide-
spread use. The word ‘‘Kodak’’ was first registered

as a trademark in 1888, coined as an easy-to-remem-

ber, vigorous word by Eastman himself. The first

product aimed at the consumer market was a

Kodak camera, unveiled in 1888 and priced at $25.

This camera appeared as a small, handheld structure

that contained a roll of film with 100 exposures and

cost $10 to develop at the laboratories in Rochester.

Eastman coined the slogan, ‘‘you press the button,

we do the rest,’’ when he introduced the Kodak

camera and within a year, it had became a well-

known phrase.

Prior to Eastman’s discovery in 1880, photogra-

phers had worked laboriously, applying fresh che-

micals to a metal plate in order to take a single

picture. Kodak’s point-and-click novelty not only

transformed photography from a complex, artistic

method into a common, everyday practice, but it

also moved the center of photographic commerce

to New York from London. The creation of low-

cost mass production combined with international

distribution, extensive advertising—Kodak pro-

ducts were advertised in leading papers and period-

icals of the day with ads written by Eastman

himself—and a focus on the customer were four

principles that served as the foundation of the East-

man Kodak Company. In 1896, 100,000 Kodak

cameras had been manufactured, signaling a mile-