Eastman Photograph Collection: Search

Over 4,000 negatives and photographs form a part to the Eastman (George) Papers">. Some of the prints date back to the 1880s while others are modern copies made from old negatives.

There are formal portraits of George Eastman in the collection, but there are also pictures of Eastman with friends, on trips, at Oak Lodge, his hunting retreat in North Carolina, and on safari. These casual snapshots provide insight into Eastman's personal life. They show him clowning with friends, relaxing, cooking, and engaged in other activities he enjoyed while away from his work at the Eastman Kodak Company.

Pictures of the interior and exterior of his house at 350 (now 900) East Avenue, built between 1903 and 1905, offer the opportunity to see what portions of the house and gardens looked like while Eastman lived there and before any major changes were affected by others. Included with the photographs of the house are several that were taken in August of 1919, when the house was being enlarged. Photographs of other residences in which Eastman lived, notably the Waterville home where he spent his early childhood, the house on Arnold Park, and the Soule House, also located on East Avenue, appear in the collection.

Other photographs include pictures of Eastman's parents, George Washington and Maria Kilbourn Eastman, and of his niece Ellen (Mrs. George B.) Dryden and her family. Of more general interest are the many photographs of Rochester, of Kodak factories, and of early Kodak workers. Portraits of Kodak directors and presidents who have run the company since Eastman's death in 1932 can also be found in the collection.Additionally, there are close-up studies and group photographs of the 1934 dedication ceremony during which the marble cylinder located at the entrance to Kodak Park, and under which George Eastman's ashes are buried, was unveiled. Prints of the various centennial celebration activities that occurred in 1954, including the presentation of the George Eastman 3¢ Commemorative Stamp, and the transference of Eastman's boyhood home in Waterville, New York to the gardens at 900 East Avenue complete the collection.

Some of these materials may also be found in the collections of the George Eastman House; nitrate negatives in the original holdings were transferred to GEH for printing and safekeeping in cold storage.

The creation of new negatives for the photographic prints in the collection was made possible through funds provided by New York State for the conservation of materials in research libraries. Database entry and correction was undertaken by Sarah DeSanctis; image processing was begun by Christine Elfman and completed by Mathew Colbert.

George Eastman Photograph Collection
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