the Eagle camera as it appears in the 1910 Eaton’s photographic supplement ready for a very close ‘close-up’
Toronto. In 1969, Neil Armstrong stated the first of his iconic statements, “the Eagle has landed” as the Lunar Module ‘Eagle’ touched down on the moon ready for his decent into history.
In 1910, the T. Eaton Drug Company produced a small catalogue titled “Cameras and Photographic Supplies”. The catalogue included cameras too, often re-badged with no indication of the origin.
Through member Dr Robert Wilson’s diligent efforts, the source of one camera was identified. The camera at left, known as “The Eagle Field Camera”, was made in England by the “Camera Construction Co.” of Hackney, London, N.E. (reasonable since before WW2, Canada was tightly aligned with England as part of the British Commonwealth).
Bob’s article titled, “Source Identified for the ‘Eagle’ Camera”, begins, “About 1910, Eaton’s department store sold many cameras which we never see today. Most of them had unusual names such as the Emerald, the Lark, the Diamond and the Sharon. These cameras were listed in a Cameras and Photographic Supplies catalogue issued by the T. Eaton Drug Company.
“A facsimile of this catalogue was mailed to all PHSC members last year. The source of most of the cameras listed in this catalogue are unknown… however, now we are able to identify from where one of them [Eagle] originated.” …
Please note; through the generosity of Dr Wilson, the 1910 catalogue pdf is available here and on this site under PRESS above at no cost.
Members read more about the Eaton’s cameras and saw the photos in the 26-1 pdf file on the free members-only DVD/thumb drive. See above and at right to join. Email all membership questions to member@phsc.ca.
