This paper traces the full history of the Polaroid camera, from Edwin Land's early research on light polarization in the 1920s through the invention of instant film photography in 1947, inspired by his young daughter's Christmas wish. It examines the camera's considerable social and technological impact, including its role as a precursor to digital photography. The paper also surveys Polaroid's decline amid the digital revolution, its current status as a vintage novelty, and ongoing preservation efforts by The Impossible Project, which continues to manufacture analog instant film for the cameras that remain in circulation worldwide.
The paper demonstrates effective synthesis of sources across different genres — corporate history, cultural criticism, news reporting, and organizational mission statements — to build a multi-dimensional account of a single technology. Rather than relying on one type of source, the author weaves together institutional records, a cultural critic (Richard Weaver), and firsthand accounts to contextualize Polaroid's rise and fall.
The paper is organized into six substantive sections following a brief introduction: background on Edwin Land's early research, the invention of the instant camera, societal and cultural impact, the current state of Polaroid technology, future preservation plans via The Impossible Project, and a conclusion summarizing the rise-and-fall narrative. Each section addresses one dimension of the topic, making the argument easy to follow and well-scaffolded for a general academic audience.
Like any product in American history, the Polaroid camera has its own unique story. From the drive of its inventor to the exhausted avenues of wayward research to the personal inspiration that finally brought success, the history of the Polaroid camera bears all the hallmarks of the classic American invention tale — with Harvard, the Great Depression, World War II, World's Fairs, automobile manufacturers, and a little girl's Christmas wish all playing into the mix. This paper analyzes the history of the Polaroid camera by examining how it was invented, what impact it had on society, what the current status of the technology is, and what future plans exist for the Polaroid brand.
The story begins with Edwin Land, who, after his freshman year at Harvard, dropped out in 1926 "to pursue independent research on polarization" ("Polaroid Corporation"). Land's efforts paid off with a prototype polarizer that led him back to Harvard three years later, where he teamed up with a physics instructor named George Wheelwright III. Together the men invested time and capital in a joint venture that "concentrated on developing polarizing material for no-glare car headlights and windshields" ("Polaroid Corporation"). When the American automobile industry failed to buy — it was the height of the Great Depression — Land and Wheelwright returned to the drawing board.
It was Eastman Kodak who first drew Land-Wheelwright into the photography business when Kodak ordered "photographic polarizing filters, later dubbed Polafilters" ("Polaroid Corporation"). Polafilters were made by placing "a sheet of polarizing material between two glass discs, [which] increased contrast and decreased glare in photographs taken in bright light" ("Polaroid Corporation"). The product gave Land-Wheelwright their name — "Polaroid" — dubbed by a professor friend from Smith College.
From there, Polaroid went on to influence sunglasses manufacturing. Wheelwright eventually left to join the war effort, while Land continued to market to the automobile industry and develop new design technology utilizing polarizing filters, including 3-D glasses. Land received several military contracts for various Polaroid inventions, including 3-D simulations, heat-seeking missiles, infrared goggles, lenses, periscope filters, and the Polaroid Vectograph. By the end of the 1940s, however, business was once again slow.
Then in 1947, everything changed. Four years earlier, on Christmas Day, Land's young daughter "asked to see the photographs her parents had taken earlier," prompting Land to dream up the idea of "an instant, self-developing film and a camera that would process it" ("Polaroid Corporation"). On February 21, 1947, Land's team of scientists unveiled the first working prototype at the Optical Society of America. Land presented the camera, and "the image of Land peeling back the negative paper from an instantly produced picture of himself made front page news in the New York Times, was given a full page in Life magazine, and was splashed across the international press" ("Polaroid Corporation"). Nine months later, store shelves were selling out of the five-pound camera, which sold for almost $90.00 a unit.
The first film was sepia-toned. This was replaced in 1950 by black-and-white film — but the black-and-white film, to the consternation of the public, turned out to be problematic: it faded. Because Polaroid failed to manufacture a "nonfading black-and-white film," the company's solution was to supply consumers with "sponge-tipped tubes of a liquid polymer, which the [clients] hand applied to each picture to set the image." This awkward process was not eliminated until 1963. "Despite the inconvenience, demand for instant photography held" ("Polaroid Corporation").
The history of the technology of the Polaroid camera has been a rise-and-fall story: the success of Land in finding his niche in the photography industry through the development of instant film preceded newer and greater endeavors such as digital photography, which ultimately put Polaroid out of business. However, Polaroid cameras still hold a special place in global society — they are part of the fabric of the immediate past, and photographers continue to appreciate the unique quality of the Polaroid print. Therefore, The Impossible Project continues to manufacture Polaroid film for those who love and seek it.
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Weaver, Richard. Ideas Have Consequences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. Print.
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