Auto-Graflex Camera in Underwater Housing
date: label: date made
content: 1918
name: label: maker
content: Eastman Kodak Company. Folmer & Schwing Division
notes: label: Description
content: This underwater camera housing holds an Auto-Graflex 4x5” camera body. It was first used by W.H. Longley of Goucher College in 1918. Longley later teamed with Charles Martin of the National Geographic Society to take the first underwater color autochrome photographs with this outfit. The team exploded a pound of flash powder, floated on three pontoons, and used a reflector to take pictures off Dry Tortugas, Florida. A selection of the photographs and the story were published in <i>National Geographic Magazine</i> in January 1927.
label: Description
content: From its invention in 1839, the camera has evolved to fit many needs, from aerial to underwater photography and everything in between. Cameras allow both amateur and professional photographers to capture the world around us. The Smithsonian’s historic camera collection includes rare and unique examples of equipment, and popular models, related to the history of the science, technology, and art of photography.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, Rochester
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
label: See more items in
content: Photography
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Waldo Schmitt
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.004199A
label: catalog number
content: 4199A
label: accession number
content: 157518
objectType: label: Object Name
content: camera housing, underwater
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 54 cm x 38.5 cm x 36.5 cm; 21 1/4 in x 15 3/16 in x 14 3/8 in