In 1985, at Photohistory VI, to be exact, a group of collectors of Kodak memorabilia decided it was time to form a society for such folks. After all, there was already such a society honoring the history of Leica cameras and surely there were a lot more people interested in collecting Kodak items. At least, there were far more who could afford it ! So, we collected some dues and I, Dr. George “ don’t call me Captain Kodak “ Layne, took the money home to decide what to do with it.

My decision was to publish a journal and in 1988 the first issue of a quarterly journal was completed. Publishing journals isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Instead of 4 journals per year, we ( I ) managed one journal per year for four years. Just too much work, not enough help etc. At the max, we had 200 members from several countries and the title “ International Kodak Historical Society “ didn’t seem too pretentious. But the costs, the work load and the decision of my two little “ Private Kodaks “ to play ice hockey brought the presses to a halt. The society went dormant. Then came the Internet.

A few years ago, I experimented and found how simple ( and free ) it was to set up an E-Mail common interest group, first on E-Groups and now on Yahoo.  “ KODAKHISTORY@YAHOO-GROUPS.COM “ has since demonstrated the potential of a Cyber-Society. Again, however, interest waned. But this time it was evident what was missing - pictures ! What we needed was a web site. And here we are again, newly re-born as “KODAKHISTORICALSOCIETY.ORG “ ( with the kind permission of the Eastman Kodak Company.)

I believe the electronic format will enable us to publish the stories that brought us all together in the first place, with colored illustrations at that. As before, I will start things off. The “ Aerial School “ essay ( click the link at left ) is the first example of what can be done. I certainly have ample stories to keep the site going but just think of what it could be with some real interactivity !  When you buy a really neat camera on Ebay, we can put it on the web site with your comments about whatever possessed you to buy it.  ( These things are not always self-evident, you know. )  We could put parts of our collections on line, as some of you already have. We could establish a virtual museum of Kodak collectibles. We all have a few Kodak trains in our collections. How about the greatest, longest Kodak train of all, contributed to by each of us. We could call it a mini-convention.

" THIS WEEKS MINI-KODAK-CONVENTION - 50 DIFFERENT KINDS OF KODAK INDIA INK IN THE ORIGINAL BOXES - 10 COLORS - 15 LANGUAGES. WOW ! ! ! “

OK, so I’m getting a little carried away, so what’s new ?  But I’m sure you see my point. And what about the old “ Meet the collector “ idea, but with full screen color of the collector’s favorite items ?

So, stop in at the web site.

Better yet, subscribe to KODAKHISTORY-SUBSCRIBE@YAHOOGROUPS.COM

Best of all, join the society. It’s free and you’ll get E-Mail notification whenever the site is updated. Just go to the FEEDBACK page and send me a note with your address.

I'LL PRESS THE WEB BUTTON, Y'ALL DO THE REST ! ! !