Production of No. 2 Bulls-Eye Special, 1898 model. Note box with Brownell name – courtesy of the F. B. Mehlenbacher collection
Toronto. In issue 38-3 we reproduce Frank B. Mehlenbacher’s well researched tale of the world’s largest camera manufacturer and its connection with Kodak in Rochester. The manufacturer, Brownell, was born in Ontario and moved to the States when he was 11 years old.
The fine article begins, “For the first two decades after the founding of the Eastman Dry Plate Company, the photographic equipment that the firm marketed was manufactured under contract by Frank A. Brownell of Rochester, New York.
“In this article his grandson Frank Brownell Mehlenbacher reviews the business relationship of his grandfather and George Eastman. Before signing his exclusive contract with Eastman, Brownell manufactured a large variety of studio and professional cameras. Mr. Mehlenbacher has drawn on his personal collection of surviving corporate records and photographs to give us this view of an early Rochester industrialist.
“He also briefly highlights several of the early cameras manufactured by Frank A. Brownell and sold under the Eastman name, cameras that contributed significantly to the popularity and growth of photography during the infancy of the Eastman business. We are grateful to Mr. Mehlenbacher for writing this article.”
Members thoroughly enjoyed this article in issue 38-3 dated December 2012. More recently members read this issue on our DVD which includes all journal issues from volume 1 to volume 40. You say you are not a member? Well that is so easy to solve! Go to the right sidebar or up to the MEMBERSHIP menu item and join today! Your DVD will be sent promptly via Canada Post.
