Film Processing Envelopes from the 1930s

Film processing was an enormous business for most of the 20th century. Thousands of companies around the country and around the world handled sales of film and supplies, processing, printing, and reprinting for professionals and amateurs. For many companies in the USA, the customer walked up to a counter and gave a clerk his/her rolls of film. After a day or two, the customer returned and picked up an envelope or folder containing the prints and negatives. Here are some of the envelopes that I found among my father's boxes of negatives. He became an enthusiastic photographer around 1928, when he was in college in the Boston area. 

Boston Area

1929

1929 or 1930

1939

1939

Approx. 1944

Huntington, West Virginia

No phone number printed on the envelope? From 1930, when my dad first moved to Huntington. He had not traveled far beyond Boston and Rhode Island, so West Virginia must have been an adventure.

Note how Premier Studio prominently wrote "Kodaks" on their envelope in an attempt to confuse customers. Premier may have used Kodak paper or chemicals, but the term on the envelope was deceptive. Premier was more modern than Hoback's and listed a 4-digit telephone number, 9197.

St. Louis, Missouri

1935 but a 1931 price list

This information sheet appears to be from a legitimate Eastman Kodak store. Notice that they developed film packs. These were popular mid-century because a user could take 16 pictures in quick succession. My dad's Certo-Sport used film packs. I tried it once around 1970, so at least then, the 16-exposure packs were still sold new.

This Agfa box states Made in USA and includes a yellow insert showing "Speedex Ansco Film." It was size 116 for impressive size negatives. Mike Eckman dot com summarized the complicated history of Ansco, Agfa, and GAF company, which made film and several models of cameras. I do not know if my dad had an Ansco camera.

Worcester, Massachusetts

Approx. 1936

Hartford, Connecticut

1938

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1940

My dad never lived in Philadelphia, so I do not know why he had film developed there.

This ends our quick tour of processing envelopes. If I find more in the family archives (=junk), I will post them later.