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Can you imagine life without a camera, to take still memories of birthdays, holidays, family, and friends? Well, George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, made photography accessible to millions of people by mass manufacturing easy-to-use cameras and other photographic products. Did you know that Eastman gave much of his fortune to establish hospitals, clinics, universities, museums, and performing art centers? I also bet you didn’t know that he created the first profit sharing plan. You see, he did much more than invent the first hand held camera and film. I will teach you about his inventions, his job, and his life. After all, George Eastman was one of the greatest inventors of all time.

Okay, you know about George’s job and his cameras, but wouldn’t you like to know about his life before he started inventing?

Well, Eastman was born on July 12, 1854 in Waterville, a rural community in New York. In 1859 his father, George Sr., sold his nursery business and moved his wife, Maria, and young George to Rochester. When George was 14, his father died and he and his mother were nearly poor.

After that, George left school to work full time. He earned $3.00 a week as a messenger boy for an insurance company. Eager to advance, he learned to write and file policies. For that, he was rewarded with a raise to $5.00 a week. This money was hardly enough to cover expenses for him and his mother, but George was determined to succeed. Each night, after long hard days at the office, he studied accounting.

At 19, his years of self education paid off. The Rochester Savings Bank hired Eastman as a junior clerk for $15.00 a week. For the first time in his working life, he could afford more than the bare necessities. More importantly, he could afford to dream.

Inventions and Innovations

An old fashioned camera had a big tent, and all the tools, like glass plates, plate holders, chemicals, developing tanks, and water were difficult to transport. Most ordinary people did not own one of the old fashioned cameras because they were very expensive and you needed the proper experience to operate one. This type of camera was as big as an average sized television. The film had to be developed right away and it was also very sensitive. When Eastman was going on a vacation to Santo Domingo, he wanted to record his trip with pictures, but the camera was just too bulky. Eastman thought that was not suitable for a paradise vacation. He started tinkering with cameras, and soon be became obsessed with his new hobby. By inventing a smaller more affordable camera, Eastman became very rich from his profit.

Wet plate film was difficult to use because you had to process the film right away. Newer dry plate film was an ancestor of the kind of film we have now, except it is on a plate. Eastman tried to perfect the dry plate film itself. The dry plates had been backed by glass that was very heavy and expensive. Eastman searched for a flexible backing. In 1884, Eastman patented a paper-backed film. Soon after, he developed roll holders for the new film.

Later, Eastman developed a camera that was sold already loaded, allowing anyone to take pictures. He called his camera Kodak, and it had one hundred exposures and sold for twenty-five dollars. The Eastman business was now successful.

After the film from the Kodak camera had been exposed, it was sent to Rochester where it was unloaded and developed in a darkroom. To solve the problem of needing a darkroom to load and unload film, Eastman developed a camera that had a black paper attached to each end of the film. Then the film at the end would not be exposed to open light. The film was then not ruined. This further improved the Kodak camera and made it more popular. Now every family could own their own camera to record memories and special events. Eastman’s cameras were small enough, affordable enough, and easy enough to use that even a child could take pictures. Eastman also developed an amateur motion-picture camera. By his death, his company was a successful multi-million dollar company.

Donations and Contributions

Eastman used his wealth for a variety of good causes, ranging from art interests to hospital drives. Another one of Eastman’s causes was to help develop the University of Rochester. Not only did he donate to general funds of the university, but he also contributed millions to the science buildings, Strong Memorial Hospital (the university's hospital), the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Eastman School of Music (branches of the university). Overall, Eastman donated $17.6 million to the University of Rochester. Without Eastman's help, the University of Rochester might not be the great university it is today.

George Eastman Timeline

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