Assortment of NOS Repair Items Directly from Kodak & Notice Letter on New Parts for Brownie

[J C]

Hello all,

I've been going through some boxes from my "studio room" from my old house, and I've finally sorted through one box which I had yet to fully inventory. Aside from a plethora of unused flashbulbs of all sizes, which I am going to covet, the box contained more than a dozen full envelopes of repair parts, cosmetic and mechanical, from Kodak dated between 1944-1945 for a variety of their cameras. The envelopes are mostly addressed to a Micheal Meyerowitz in the Bronx. Additionally, I have a letter from Kodak to repairmen on the replacement of trigger mechanisms on some Brownie models with updated versions. The letter is dated April 3rd, 1944. Just thought it would be interesting to share, and, if anyone is interested, I can inventory all of the parts I have. Additionally, if anyone is restoring a Kodak camera of the era, I may be willing to sell some of the bits. Seeing new precut pieces of 70+ year old leather and faux leather for these cameras is quite interesting. This all makes me think of the variety of photo-accoutrements that were never saved, items of the period that never survived as they weren't of value then. It also reminds me of all the photography related info, whether it be related to techniques, lenses, films, emulsions, chemistry, the industry and who's who, etc. that was never recorded, either lost with the people who were in the know or known only by the people who used to be in the know that are still around. Reminds me of my other main anchronistic hobby: classic cars. In both cases, these forums have been useful for cataloging information that would otherwise have been lost forever. However, it feels like the car world is much more on the ball in that regard and is beginning to place importance on saving information like that before it's gone. In any case, just some interesting finds from my storage. I know it's not super valuable, but it is uncommon, especially considering that things like this were intended to be used and discarded.

 

[Kino]

Jacob,

I find this sort of information fascinating and am sure others will as well.

I encourage you to make some high quality scans/photos to preserve this information.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[J C]

I guess I'll do a full inventory and take some quality pictures of what I have.

I didn't mention it in the first post, but I find it interesting that these parts and that letter would be distributed during WWII. I would have expected the manufacture of cameras for the general public to have been halted as with cars, but, judging from the fact that the parts I have are mainly for Brownies and other low cost cameras, I doubt that any of these spares were for military use. The fact that Kodak was developing updates for consumer cameras during this period is even more unexpected, as I would expect that all of their efforts would again be focused on cameras, film, and other equipment for the military.

 

[BrianShaw]

Fascinating find. I had no idea that people fixed or updated Brownies. Always assumed they were replaced rather than repaired. Love learning new things.

And interesting point about the time period. A lot of industry was militarized in support of the war effort and some never really got back to commercial production after the war. My hometown had one major factory and lots of small shops supporting it. Before the war it was a prosperous city. After the war it was never the same. Kodak must have been fortunate enough to do both military and commercial.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Will you be selling those in the Photrio Classifieds for the prices marked?

 

[AnselMortensen]

Maybe the George Eastman House would have an interest in acquiring the literature?