No. 1A Kodak Junior Autographic (1916-1924)

The Eastman Kodak Company's Autographic cameras were the equivalent to film cameras with data backs or digital cameras that saved EXIF data with the pictures. You could add a one line note to the negative to remind yourself when the picture was taken or what the subject was. It was a potential solution to the puzzle of a pile of anonymous picture found in an old shoe box - if the photographer remembered to make the note. This is a No. 1A Kodak Junior Autographic folding camera.

 "No. 1A" means the camera uses size 116 film and takes a 2-1/2" by 4-1/4" picture. "Autographic" means the photographer can write notes on the film, in the spaces between the pictures. "Kodak Junior" means it is the cheaper model camera. The expensive ones were "Kodak Special" and the ordinary ones were just plain "Kodak". "Brownies" were different altogether. A No. 2A Brownie took the same size picture as a No. 1A Kodak. Confusing, isn't it? This camera has a focusing meniscus achromatic lens in a Kodak Ball Bearing shutter. You can set the aperture at "1", "2", "3", or "4" (f/12.7, f/16, f/22 or f/32). The shutter speeds are 1/25, 1/50 or 1/100 plus bulb and time. The McKeown book on Kodak cameras says the focal length of the lens is 5-1/4 inches, while the 1916 Kodak catalog says 5 inches. This model was made from 1916 to 1924. My specimen came in a box of old cameras from Goodwill. It looks like it could still take a picture, except that size 116 film is long gone. To make notes on the film you opened the little door on the back of the camera and wrote on the backing paper of the film. You then exposed the open door to sky light (not direct sunlight) for a second. When the film was developed your note would appear on the negative in the blank space between pictures, a little like a modern databack. The stylus is missing from my camera (they are commonly lost). The camera is also missing the leather handle and part of the leather covering. These are not rare or valuable cameras. My camera was the next to the cheapest version of "No. 1A Autographic Kodak Junior" and listed for $11 a hundred years ago. Kodak made autographic cameras for about 20 years. It was an ingenious feature, but not compatible with the higher speed films that began to appear about 1930.