A 10A Century Studio Camera by Folmer Graflex from an Ottawa studio
Toronto. Graflex has had a long and storied history beginning in 1887 when it was established in NYC as Folmer & Schwing, a maker of bicycles. The company expanded and began making Graflex cameras in 1898. Kodak bought the company in 1905.
It remained a Kodak division until the mid 1920s when the government stepped in to break up parts of Kodak. From 1926 through 1945 it was called Folmer Graflex (the period when this camera was made). This seems to be its golden age when almost every North American professional, especially news hawks, used a Graflex or Speed Graphic camera.
In 1945, the company became Graflex, Inc.. It struggled to compete in the amateur market using imported and rebranded cameras. In 1966 the company was sold to Singer and quietly disappeared in 1973.
Note that the dates for the names used by the company vary a bit depending on the source. The early to mid 1900s Graflex cameras even have their own journal and web site. The journal is currently created by Ken Metcalf in North Carolina and appears here on occasion.
This particular camera once graced the studio of Ottawa photographer, Joseph-Alexandre Castonguay (1877-1972). Our thanks to Mike Toporowsky in Alberta for the photos and a bit of history.
