Thoughts on the New Year makes me think of Midland’s roots in optics.
We all have a working idea of how Leitz came to Midland in 1952 and established a famous brand called Leica. Others will remember that Bausch and Lomb were also here …in 1949.
Similarities between Rochester, home of Kodak and other camera specialists are rife.
One of the legacies of Charles Eastman, founder of Kodak, is the Eastman Museum, founded in 1948 in Rochester.
The holdings are formed from three pioneering collections of photography.
Archives Canada holds the Merrilees, Lamb, Drummond and Kelso Collections of J.W. Bald and, combined with the work of Stokes, Watson, and other photographers, we have the core of a collection that reflects Midland’s history in its social, commercial and industrial activities.
Midland tourism is at the centre of all these visions of the area, mirroring all these activities. These are ideas for what Midland might consider when promoting the area as the raw material sits before us unformed.
Kodak invented taking a photo for the masses. It is a significant achievement in which we can say proudly, “We had Stokes and John W. Bald as pioneers of that era. Shall we celebrate these pioneers, more broadly, as we already do locally? Yes.
Our common story is about these pioneers like Günter Leitz, Dr. Mandler, Walter Kluck and especially, William H. Cranston, the man who had a vision of Midland as a town with international stature.
René Hackstetter, February 4, 2021
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