Contribution of the European Kodak Research Laboratories to Innovation Strategy at Eastman Kodak

Contribution of the European Kodak Research Laboratories to Innovation Strategy at Eastman Kodak Nicolas Le Guern Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Photographic History Research Centre Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities De Montfort University Leicester, UK January 2017 1 In memory of Professors Bernard Leblanc and Jacques Desautels 2 Abstract This study provides a new understanding of the nature of Eastman Kodak Research. The thesis considers the European context between 1891 and 1912, before the creation of the first Kodak Research Laboratory in 1912 at Rochester, New York, and between 1928 and 1950 with the opening of two additional Research Laboratories in the United Kingdom and in France. It sheds light on the technological and organisational relationship between the main Kodak Research Laboratory in Rochester and the later, related, Kodak Research Laboratories in Europe. Analysis of publications from numerous independent photochemists demonstrates that industrial secrecy during the interwar years limited the sharing of scientific knowledge and delayed developments in photographic science. The first Kodak Research Laboratory was created in Rochester in 1912 to address this issue internally. Its first director, Kenneth Mees, developed an innovative organisational model which combined fundamental and applied research in order to protect scientific facts about the photographic process that were discovered in-house and to create the appropriate preconditions for the development of new and marketable products. Qualitative analysis of unpublished research reports stresses the multi-faceted nature of the photographic research undertaken at the Harrow Research Laboratory from 1929 onwards. It shows that the British Laboratory was open to external sources of scientific knowledge and innovative technologies. Photographic knowledge was shared significantly during the 1930s between the American, British and French Research Laboratories and Production Departments, as also evidenced by the previously undiscovered personal notebooks of a number of photochemists. Analysis of the British and more recently uncovered French Kodak archives also reveals that long-term Kodak research about colour photography was interrelated with the European Kodak Research Laboratories during the interwar period. Original analyses of unpublished patent correspondence demonstrate that the editorial drafting of strategic patents 3 during the Second World War was at the core of the scientific collaboration between Kodak Limited and independent inventors. This thesis concludes that the work of the European Kodak research laboratories was fundamental to Eastman Kodak in the twentieth century. Despite cultural disparities, the three laboratories followed an organisational model that promoted scientific collaboration. Furthermore, the modest size of Kodak Research in Europe during the early years forced the company to partially adopt an “Open Innovation” model, combining external sources of technology with in-house research. This is the first study to address the question of the European nature of Kodak Research using unpublished laboratory archives. It unveils the complete organisation of Kodak research, including knowledge transfer and scientific collaborations, as well as the actors in Kodak Research that marked the history of twentieth century photography. 4 Acknowledgements As I reflect back on my PhD years and write my acknowledgements, I realize that such an individual activity of academic research was only made possible with the help and efforts of a great number of scholars, colleagues, family and friends. Whilst working for a photographic filter manufacturer in France in 2011 and having long left behind the world of academia, I was really happy but also surprised to obtain a PhD position in the UK. What’s more, I was fortunate to be awarded a three year full-time research bursary, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, through De Montfort University. A new world opened up to me, with many comings and goings across the Channel, and the necessary campus life at intervals required a period of adjustment for a “mature student” like myself. Apart from the practical side, one of the main difficulties was to undertake a PhD in the history of photography without the study of photographs. During these three years and beyond, a great many people have been very supportive and enabled the progressive writing of my thesis, somewhat appropriately for a thesis about teamwork and scientific collaboration. In the United Kingdom, De Montfort University and its whole staff welcomed the foreign student that I was. In the Graduate School Office, the members always dispelled my doubts, in particular Silvana McAuley, Kerry Mason, Kerry-Ann Smith, Jimi O'Callaghan, Julie Nutting and Claire Kaylor-Tilley. Linda Butt, Archivist at the Special Collections of Kimberlin Library, introduced me to the Kodak Collection and its many treasures. Dr Kelley Wilder took the role of first supervisor, but her role cannot be restricted to the unique supervision of my PhD. Her great optimism and energy, her wide knowledge and questions about photography, its nature and the role of photography in science progressively shaped my own questioning about my PhD subject and my research questions. She developed my interest in the scholars of Science and Technology Studies and the bibliographical research that followed dramatically changed my literature review. Kelley was always supportive of my frequent stays in Leicester and helped me frequently despite her own family commitments, and I will always be grateful to her for that. Professor Stephen Brown was my second supervisor and helped me to progressively shape the structure of my first drafts to be compliant with the requirements of a PhD thesis. He has always been wise in his criticism of my drafts, and frequently challenged me about several aspects of the thesis such as my methodology or the structure of the literature review. The great supervision of both Kelley and Stephen has made the final version of this thesis possible. At De Montfort University, I am also indebted to Professor Emeritus Elizabeth Edwards and to Dr Gil Pasternak for their help in Leicester, for our discussions and for the excellent annual conferences of the Photographic History Research Centre. I thank, in particular, Professor Edwards for agreeing to become the internal examiner of my viva and for questioning me about my work. I am also sincerely grateful to Dr Charlotte Bigg, of the Centre Alexandre-Koyré CNRS/EHESS/MNHN, for agreeing to become my external examiner. On the campus, several seminars and conferences organised by the Photographic History Research Centre permitted the creation and development of a new community of international students, professors and curators to discuss many issues in the field. I was happy to meet and exchange ideas with a heterogeneous body of new friends from De Montfort 5 University and beyond, in particular Dr Tom Allbeson, Professor François Brunet, Professor Catherine Clark, Katie Cooke, Dr Caroline Fuchs, Professor Thierry Gervais, Malgorzata Grabczewska, Damian Hughes, Professor Nicoletta Leonardi, Laureline Meizel, Mario Pagano, Denis Pellerin, Sylvie Pénichon, Dr Shannon Perry, Nuno Pinhiero, Dr Françoise Poos, Mike Robinson, Professor Emeritus Roger Taylor, Baiba Tetere, Dr Kim Timby, Ben Tree, Dr Chris Tucker, Marta ZIętkiewicz-Szlendak. Pertaining to the data collection, the irreplaceable inventory of the Kodak Collection archive at the British Library created by Dr Michael Pritchard, Director-General of the Royal Photographic Society, made the identification of the relevant boxes for my research possible among a huge quantity of archival materials. I am indebted to Michael for an exceptional meeting in the storage areas of the British Library to discover the British Kodak archive and its numerous grey boxes. In the same institution, I would also like to sincerely thank John Falconer, Head of Visual Materials, Curator of Photographs, for facilitating the organisation of my many trips to London and the necessary logistics over two years. Boxes and research reports were always on a special shelf at my disposal, with the help of all the Library staff in the Asian & African Studies reading room as well. Regarding my accommodation in London, I warmly thank my aunt Jacqueline Lavanant for lodging me many times. Kodak Limited’s former archivist, Chris Roberts, as well as Dr Sam Weller, former Director of the Kodak European Research Laboratories in Cambridge, introduced me to the Kodak Collection in Kimberlin Library, De Montfort University. They also helped me to obtain the reproduction of some critical documents and research reports from the Kodak Collection archive at the British Library. Although the historical period of my research did not directly concern their time at Kodak Limited, my only hope is that they find this thesis of great interest in retelling the history of Kodak Limited and more generally, the history of industrial research. I, myself, am indebted to them for their wise decisions to keep, save and organise the gift of this extraordinary archive to De Montfort University and the British Library. In France, Professor François Brunet was the first to inform me about the PhD proposal at De Montfort University and is therefore indirectly responsible for this great adventure. I was very pleased to meet him later at De Montfort University during an annual conference. I also warmly thank

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