In this 1900 photo, a group of friends visit Fort Sewall on a snowy day. Two women hold Kodak snapshot cameras under their arms. To take photos, they loaded rolls of nitrate film, held the cameras against their chests and looked through a small viewfinder before clicking the shutter. They could create 100 exposures with each roll of film, which developed into 3 1/4-inch square photographs.
Twelve years earlier, George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in Rochester, New York. Marketed with the slogan, “You press the button … we do the rest,” the camera and its film revolutionized photography by allowing amateurs to take photographs without any formal training in composition or developing. Shutterbugs simply mailed their camera to Eastman’s Rochester factory, which developed the photos and sent them back along with the camera and a fresh roll of film.
Local photographer Fred Litchman, third from left in this photo, probably developed these ladies’ snapshots in his studio on 15 State St., one of the many services his business provided. Litchman used snapshot cameras in addition to his own professional, tripod-mounted models.
This is one of 140 photos featured in the Marblehead Museum’s new book, “Marblehead Snapshots: The World of Fred Litchman.” Litchman captured Marblehead at a pivotal time in its history, as locals created a seaside vacation mecca from the ashes of two devastating fires on Pleasant Street. The photos form a crucial historical record of a town unfiltered. The book is available to order at MarbleheadMuseum.org and in the museum gift shop, which reopens on March 1.
Jarrett Zeman is the assistant director of the Marblehead Museum. From the Vault is a regular segment highlighting an item from Marblehead Museum’s collection of more than 60,000 artifacts. Learn more and explore at marbleheadmuseum.org.
