This week’s roll of “found film” comes from a Kodak Six-16 Brownie Junior, made between 1934 and 1942. From a technology standpoint, it’s virtually indistinguishable from a Brownie Target Six-16, made between 1946 and 1951. Given the pace of technology these days, it’s odd to think that a camera would have one so many years without any real technical improvements. Update: it turns out the “Brownie” website I used as a reference was likely wrong – another site lists production dates as 1933-1940, which coincides with Kodak’s brief run with 116 and 616 film. But this still represents one of the last models in decades of box cameras that were, from a technical point of view, nearly identical.
The camera came from a seller on eBay, who, when asked about the camera’s origins, explained, “We purchased the belongings that were left in the basement of the home we bought in Hegins Pa. The original owners resided previously in Quakertown Pa and did a lot of traveling.” The camera has a a piece of tape that seemed at first to serve no real purpose; but it covers a small pull-tab which, when pulled out, causes the shutter to stay open until the shutter release is operated a second time. There are no markings to help you remember which way is which, and having it pulled out when it should be pushed in can ruin one of the pictures on a roll of only eight exposures. On the newer model, that tab has been moved to the bottom of the case. Which doesn’t make it any easier to remember if you don’t use the camera often.
The first three exposures on the roll were blank. Could this have been the owner trying to remember which way the tab was supposed to go, ultimately leading them to install the piece of tape? Then we get a picture of a young girl:
This is followed by two identical landscapes:
And then a photo of a car:
This is a 1949 Chevrolet, with Pennsylvania license plates. The final photo appears to be the same little girl (though it could be a sibling), now a couple of years older. I think it’s the same person, probably the photographer’s daughter – which is what led me to think the photographer didn’t use the camera all that often. I’d guess the car was new at the time, meaning the camera was at least 7-8 years old when the pictures were taken. And the little girl would be about 70 today. Neither she nor her parents ever saw these photos.
The last bit of the film was folded over when it was rolled up (somehow), which is probably what caused the lines on the last photo.
