The Eastman Kodak Company was incorporated May 23, 1892, by George Eastman and Henry Strong. It was founded as a result of George Eastman’s desire to create a lighter weight, easier to use, and less expensive camera than was available at the time. According to the Kodak story, “The camera was as big as a microwave oven and needed a heavy tripod. And he carried a tent so that he could spread photographic emulsion on glass plates before exposing them, and develop the exposed plates before they dried out. There were chemicals, glass tanks, a heavy plate holder, and a jug of water. The complete outfit ‘was a pack-horse load,’ as he described it.”

In the mid 1870s, Eastman started to experiment with making gelatin emulsions of his own. By 1880, he not only developed a formula that worked but patented a machine for preparing large numbers of plates, and soon started selling them to other photographers. For most of the 20th century, Kodak held the dominant position in photographic film. Additionally, they developed the most popular consumer cameras including the Brownie and the Instamatic. The Kodak brand became ubiquitous with photos creating the tagline a “Kodak moment” and becoming a part of the vernacular. Since its founding, Kodak has also worked with the U.S. Government on many projects developing special films and cameras for testing and reconnaissance.

The company was doing so well from its inception through the 1970s that it made no mergers or acquisitions. This probably contributed to putting them in a difficult place when new technologies and their uses started to create new competition at the turn of the century.