Brownie camera's place in history

I think I wrote a while back of going to the Dalton Museum and finding a book of photographs, one of which was a snapshot of my mother when she was expecting my sister. To my knowledge there isn't another picture portraying my mom as an expectant mother, and of course I didn't have my hand scanner with me that day nor did my phone camera do the photograph justice.

In reviewing some family history with my cousins, I found that my mom's little sister, Shirley, had been given a Brownie camera, which happens to still be in their possession, as a gift and it was she, the precocious pre-teen, that snapped all the pictures found in that album and probably many more that reside in our own albums today!

The Brownie box camera was developed by Frank A. Brownwell and named after a famous cartoonist's, Palmer Cox, characters the "brownies." Developed in 1900, the camera was extremely popular from the beginning, the most popular being the Kodak Brownie #2. The cameras were advertised for children, but even soldiers going to war carried them and it was from this invention that much of the early 1900 daily life of America was captured in photos.

McCook seventh grade class with Mr. Johnston, dated about 1925. Courtesy/SWNGS private collection

My Aunt Shirley loved her Brownie camera so much that it survived her many moves even though an album of her photos got lost in the commotion and ended up in a museum. It's no surprise that the Brownie was so popular because the cardboard model, complete with view finder and handle, sold for only $ 2.00 (still a large sum when you think about it) while the aluminum and colored models sold for $2.75 and $ 2.50 respectively.

Today I am going to share two pictures that have been donated to the genealogy library which more than likely were taken with a Brownie camera. The first is a picture of the McCook 7th Grade Junior High class with teacher Mr. Johnston, which I am dating about 1925 and the second is a picture of what is noted as S.S. Teacher (I would assume Social Studies but could be Sunday school); Mrs. Manley, which I am only guessing must be around the same time.

These pictures were rescued from a house going up for auction several years ago and there are other gems among them that I will share later but again, I request that before you pitch out pictures just because you have no idea who they are, take a look at the backgrounds and see if they might be pertinent to saving past memories of southwest Nebraska.

Mrs. Manly, in a picture rescued from a house auction. Courtesy

The genealogy library is on winter hours of Wednesdays each week from 1-4 PM. We are located ½ block West of Norris Ave, 110 West C Street (south side) on the Mezzanine level, Room M-3. Please join us there for help with your research! There is an elevator to the left of the entrance door for those who cannot use stairs.