Summary

Photographic album presented to Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd employee, Mr Stewart P Middleton, upon his retirement in October 1966 by 'the Emulsion Boys', the staff who worked in the Emulsion Department at Kodak's Coburg factory.

The album consists of a number of black and white photographic prints featuring Kodak's history in Australia and the United States of America, and photographs of Mr Middleton, including some portraits of Mr Middleton that were pasted onto various scenes in the album. The photographs are mostly captioned and provide an insight into not only Kodak's manufacturing and retail history, but into staff relations, highlighting in particular the light-hearted antics of the staff and their fondness towards a senior member of staff at a career milestone.

Photos used in the album feature the Yarra Grange Cottage, Baker & Rouse shop in the Block Arcade, women employees using the Inhalatorium, World War I comfort fundraising event with a tank, senior executives, Abbotsford factory across the river, dinner to welcome home Dr Lewis and Mr Monteith after their Kodachrome vist to the USA, aerial views of Abbotsford and Rochester and other images found elsewhere in the collection.

Part of a collection of research material and artefacts assembled by former Kodak Australasia employee Nigel Beale while he was writing Kodak's company history in the 1980s.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers, as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques. This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005, when the Melbourne manufacturing plant at Coburg closed down.

Physical Description

Photograph album with textured beige coloured front and back cover and 26 grey cardboard pages with cream textured wax paper interleaving most pages. The pages are attached to the covers with pink and purple coloured cord that is tied through the two holes on each album page. The holes are reinforced with white adhesive circular stickers. Photographs are pasted in to the pages, and captions are written in either white ink, with some handwritten annotations in black or blue ink. Some pages have multiple images mounted on them.

Significance

This item enhances our understanding of photographic manufacturing and retailing in Australia, and specifically traces the history of Kodak in Australia and its workforce through a visual record of the company in the mid-twentieth century.

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