In a recent post, I wrote about a Kodak Brownie Fiesta camera that was found in a Goodwill store in West Virginia. The camera had an exposed roll of Kodacolor X that I developed this afternoon and scanned. I developed the roll in Kodak D-76, which was what I had available, and the resulting photographs are black and white. I was able to recover eight images of what appear to be a visit to the Summersville Dam in West Virginia in the mid to late 1960's. One of the photographs was clearly of a dam, and a google search of West Virginia dams came up with photos that match the structure on the roll of film. There is another photo of a woman standing by her car with binoculars and another of a man with a body of water in the background. It was interesting to read a little bit of history about the dam, the second largest rock fill dam in the Eastern United States. I also did a search on Merrill Photo Supply Co., the photography store that was listed on the original purchase receipt of the camera and was sad to see that they closed in mid 2011 after being in business for over 70 years. Overall, I'm very pleased with this attempt at retrieving photographs from this long expired roll of film.
Kodak Brownie Fiesta
A friend of mine found this very nice Kodak Brownie Fiesta 127 film camera in her Goodwill store and picked it up for me for $2.99. I already had one of these in my collection, but this one is in new condition and included the original box, sales receipt, flash, a couple of bulbs, and a "new" expired July 1970 roll of Kodacolor X 127 film. I was surprised to find an exposed roll of film in the camera - Kodacolor X C-22 process film, that I'll develop in black and white. The original handwritten receipt is from Merrill Photo Supply Co. Photographic Goods For Amateurs Professionals and The Graphic Arts, dated 6/2/1965. The purchase price for the Fiesta Outfit was $9.95, with four rolls of film, and two packs of AG-1 flash bulbs bringing the total to $17.30 with tax. I'm always looking for old cameras with an exposed roll of film that can be developed to get a glimpse of the past. I'll post some images from this one if they turn out.