August 24, 2015 / Joanne Yeck

Kodak Party

Eastman Kodak’s Brownie Camera

In May of 1908, photographer W.E. Burgess, who owned Idylwood Studio in Scottsville, Virginia, hosted a “Kodak party” for a number of his friends. According to the “Scottsville Social News” published in Richmond’s The Times-Dispatch: “Many pictures were taken, refreshments served and the occasion was a most enjoyable one.”

Eastman Kodak introduced the Brownie camera in February of 1900 and, within a decade, the country was full of happy “snapshot”-taking Americans. Some of them were having fun (and possibly a little instruction) in Scottsville, just a ferry ride away from Buckingham County. By the time Mr. Burgess held his “Kodak party,” the new bridge was in place connecting the lowlands of Snowden in Buckingham to the town of Scottsville in Albemarle County.

Over the decades, W. E. Burgess photographed many people and places in Buckingham and its environs. Many were sold as postcards and are now collectibles.

Read more about W. E. Burgess and Idylwood at Scottsville Museum, “William Edward Burgess, Scottsville’s Photographer” and at “William Edward Burgess, 1871-1935.”