Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd published a number of newsletters for their staff throughout the 20th century. One of the earliest publications was the Kodak Works Bulletin.
The Kodak Works Bulletin was circulated monthly to Kodak Australasia staff, with the first issue published in May 1923. The Bulletin consisted of 20-30 pages and featured text illustrated by numerous black and white photographs.
The Bulletin included reports on staff sporting clubs such as tennis, cricket and swimming; the Kodak Girls Club; the Kodak library news about Managing Director Thomas Baker and his wife Alice, and Managing Director JJ Rouse and his family and updates on staff engagements, weddings and health.
An un-named editor wrote and compiled the newsletter, supplemented by contributions from staff representatives from Kodak Branches around Australia and New Zealand. The bulletin was informal and intimate, with in-house jokes and 'roastings' of branch and factory staff printed alongside kind and concerned commentary on the welfare of returned soldiers and ill employees.
The Kodak Works Bulletin contains a range of interesting information about the Kodak Australasia executive and staff, their working and social life, and key company events. This makes it a useful historical resource for the early period of the company. However, it also more broadly provides an insightful window into attitudes of the day, in particular those towards women and people from a non-Anglo-Saxon background. Some of the sentiments and attitudes articulated in the Kodak Works Bulletin are now considered inappropriate as they are offensive, and they would not be tolerated in workplaces today.
Museums Victoria holds only Volumes 1, 5, 6 and 7 of the Kodak Works Bulletin, dating from May to December 1923. It is unclear if the publication continued after this date.
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