Please see below for a complete list of consulted sources.
(This page was created on the occasion of the 2005 Awards)

1758
Johann Rudolf Geigy-Gemuseus (by 1901, becomes a company, J.R. Geigy Limited) begins trading chemicals and dyes in Basel, Switzerland.

1861
In Scotland, James Clerk Maxwell experiments with an additive color process to produce positive images, using three glass plate negatives exposed through red-, green-, and blue-colored water filters. From these negatives, positives are made and projected on top of each other, through the same color filtration, to produce an image. This is a complex procedure and the viewing method is not ideal.

Late 1860s
In France, Louis Ducos du Hauron announces a subtractive color process to produce color prints, using three glass plate negatives exposed through red, green, and blue filters. From these negatives, colored positives are made by applying complimentary colored cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes. This is a complex procedure and the exposure times are very long.

1881
Eastman Dry Plate Company, a partnership between George Eastman and Henry A. Strong, is established in Rochester, NY.

1883
Auguste Lumière and his sons found a company that produces photographic dry plates.

1884
Ciba, a chemical company in Basel, Switzerland, is founded.

1884
The Eastman Dry Plate Company becomes Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company and makes film available in rolls instead of glass plates.

1888
Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company markets its first camera, the No. 1 Kodak, which is preloaded with Eastman American film, and has to be returned (camera and film) to Rochester for development.

1891
In New Jersey, Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first motion picture viewer, with which an individual could watch a positive moving image though a peephole in the top of the unit.

1891
In France, Gabriel Lippmann creates color photographs using the interference principle (based on silver chloride’s optical reaction to light waves), but is unable to make the images permanent.

1892
Eastman Kodak Company of New York is established.

1892
In the United States, Frederick Eugene Ives announces the three-color separation process, and camera for such purpose, for creating separations for color photo engravings.

1895
In France, Auguste and Louis Jean Lumière patent the Lumière Cinématographe motion picture film projector, which has the capacity to project motion pictures, an improvement over Edison’s invention because it allows for many people to view moving images at the same time.

1903
The Lumières patent Autochrome, an additive color photography process that uses colored starch in glass plate film emulsion to filter light. Marketed by 1907, this is the first commercial success for color photography, but exposure times are lengthy and image quality (sharpness and distribution of color) needs improvement.

1909
The Agfa Film Company is founded in Germany.

1911
Lumière and Sons Company merges with J. Jougla and is renamed The Industrial Photographic Union.

1912
Dr. C.E. Kenneth Mees directs the newly established Kodak Research Laboratories, until he retires in 1955.

1912
In Germany, Rudolph Fischer patents a subtractive color process using couplers, color producing substances, embedded in three film layers sensitive to red, green, and blue colored light. This is a major development in color photography, but produces unsatisfactory image quality (inaccurate color) because the couplers do not stay in their respective film layers.

1913
Kodak develops a panchromatic film emulsion, sensitive to red, green, and blue light.

1922
Lewis L. Strauss, a partner in the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb, & Company (later the Chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission during the Eisenhower administration), meets young musicians and photography enthusiasts, Leopold Godowsky, Jr. and Leopold Mannes, and grants them loans to set up a laboratory for research into color photography.

1928
Kodak introduces Kodacolor 16mm amateur motion picture film, a positive black-and-white film that reproduces color by using identical red-, green-, and blue-striped filters over the camera and projector lenses.

1928
The Industrial Photographic Union is renamed Société Lumière.

1930
Leopold Godowsky, Jr. and Leopold Mannes sign contracts to become researchers in their own laboratory at Kodak, and move to Rochester, NY, the following year.

1932
Lumière releases Filmcolor, a sheet film (an improvement on the original glass-plate format) version of the Autochrome process. Subsequently, Lumicolor, a roll film, is released.

1932
George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, dies at age 77.

1934
In Belgium, Bela Gaspar introduces the silver dye-bleach color process, which is first used as Gasparacolor, a motion picture film.

1934
Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. is founded in Japan.

1935
At Kodak Research Laboratories, Leopold Godowsky, Jr. and Leopold Mannes, building upon past color photography research, create a film with three different color-sensitive emulsion layers, and which incorporates dye couplers in the processing chemicals. This eliminates the previous problem of dyes migrating between layers. Godowsky’s and Mannes’ invention is Kodachrome film.

1935
Kodak introduces Ciné-Kodak Kodachrome Safety film, for 16mm motion pictures, which is sharp and color-accurate. Its only drawback is that it is difficult to develop; only Kodak labs process it.

1936
Agfa introduces Agfacolor-Neu transparency film, which has color couplers within the film that do not transfer between layers.

1936
Kodak introduces Kodachrome 35mm still film and 8mm home movie film, with an ASA of 10.

1936
Kodak introduces the Ciné-Kodak camera, which uses film in magazines instead of rolls, for making 16mm home movies.

1937
Kodak introduces the 16mm Sound Kodascope Special Projector for films with sound.

1937
Kodak introduces the Kodaslide Projector, the first slide projector for showing 2 x 2” glass-mounted slides.

1937
The Polaroid Corporation is founded by Edwin Herbert Land in Massachusetts.

1937
Kodak introduces 35mm glass slide mounts.

1939
Kodak introduces 35mm cardboard Kodaslide mounts and the Ready-Mount service, which mounts slides after they are processed and returns them to the consumer.

1939
Kodak introduces Kodaslide Projector Model 2, for home use.

1939
Agfa introduces Agfacolor, the first negative motion picture film.

1939
In Oregon, William Gruber invents the View-Master, and collaborates with Harold Graves, President of Sawyer’s Photographic Services, to market it. Introduced at the New York World’s Fair, it uses Kodachrome slide images, which appear in three dimensions through the viewer.

1941
Kodak introduces a color printing service for Minicolor prints from Kodachrome slides and Kotavachrome prints from Kodachrome sheet film transparencies.

1942
Kodak introduces Kodacolor color negative film, for making color prints. This film is entirely different from the Kodacolor movie film introduced earlier.

1942
Daiwa Kogyo, Ltd. (renamed Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd. via a merger in 1959) is founded in Japan.

1946
Kodak introduces Ektachrome transparency sheet film, the first color film that could be processed by any photographer.

1946
Kodak introduces the Dye Transfer Process for making color prints from three-color separation negatives

1947
Kodak introduces Ektachrome color transparency roll film.

1948
The National Geographic Society, with permission from Eastman Kodak, names Kodachrome Basin State Park, an area near Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

1950
Kodak installs its first of many Colorama Display transparencies (18 x 60 feet) in Grand Central Station, New York City. The series continues to be on display until 1990.

1955
Kodak sells Kodachrome and Kodacolor films without processing included in the purchase price, which allows other labs to process its film.

1958
Kodak introduces the Cavalcade Projector, Model 500, a completely automatic color slide projector.

1959
Kodak introduces Ektachrome color slide film, the fastest color film at this time.

1961
Shinshu Seiki Co., Ltd. is founded in Japan.

1961
Kodak introduces ASA 25 Kodachrome II film, with improved color, greater light sensitivity, and finer grain than original Kodachrome.

1961
Kodak introduces the Kodak Carousel Projector, which uses a round tray to accommodate 80 slides.

1962
Ciba acquires Société Lumière.

1963
Polaroid introduces Polacolor Type 48, the first instant color film.

1963
Ciba introduces the Cibachrome silver dye-bleach process for making prints from color transparencies.

1964
The Kodak Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair exhibits the largest outdoor color prints ever displayed.

1964
Leopold Mannes dies at age 64.

1965
Fuji Photo Film USA, Inc. is established in New York, NY.

1965
Kodak develops the Super 8 film format for home movies and releases cartridge-loaded Kodachrome II film for Super 8 cameras.

1968
Scitex Corporation, Ltd. is founded in Israel.

1968
Shinshu Seiki Co., Ltd. introduces the EP-101, the smallest digital mini-printer, and the first in what will become the Epson line of printers.

1969
Ciba acquires Ilford.

1971
J.R. Geigy Ltd., merges with Ciba to form Ciba‑Geigy, Ltd. in Switzerland.

1971
Kodak introduces Ektachrome 160 Movie Film (Type A), light sensitive enough for shooting in existing light.

1971
Polaroid’s Big Shot Land camera, which only takes flash color portraits, is released.

1972
Polaroid introduces the SX-70 Land Camera, the first single-lens reflex camera for instant color prints.

1972
Kodak releases Kodachrome-X film, in a newly available 110-size cartridge.

1973
Paul Simon releases a song called “Kodachrome” on his There Goes Rhymin’ Simon album.

1974
Kodachrome ASA 25 and 64 slide films, with improved color, are introduced.

1974
Kodachrome 40 films (Type A) for 8mm, 16mm, and Super 8 motion pictures are introduced.

1975
Polaroid announces Polacolor 2 (Type 108) color film, which peels apart and produces a color negative and instant color print.

1976
Fujifilm introduces the first ASA 400 color negative film, Fujicolor FII400.

1977
1977 Polaroid Corporation introduces the 20x24” camera and 20x24 Polacolor film, which produces 20x24” instant color prints.

1977
George Eastman and Edwin Herbert Land are inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

1978
Kodak introduces Ektachrome 400 slide film, the fastest transparency film at the time.

1978
Polaroid introduces Polavision, an instant color motion picture system, which produces 2 ½ minute self-developing films.

1980
Eastman Kodak Company turns 100.

1980
Fujifilm introduces A-250 color negative motion picture film, the fastest at this time.

1982
Kodak introduces disc cameras and film.

1982
Kodak releases Kodacolor VR 100 film, with new T-grain emulsion technology.

1982
Shinshu Seiki Co., Ltd. changes its name to Epson Corporation.

1983
Leopold Godowsky Jr. dies at age 82.

1983
Creo is founded in British Columbia, Canada.

1984
Epson Corporation introduces the SQ-2000, t he first commercial Epson inkjet printer.

1984
Kodak introduces videotape cassettes in 8mm, Beta, and VHS formats.

1984
Fujifilm introduces the first ASA 1600 color negative film, Fujicolor HR1600.

1984
Fujifilm introduces Fujicolor AX color motion picture film, the fastest at this time.

1985
Iris Graphics, Inc. is founded in Bedford, MA.

1985
Daiwa Kogyo Ltd. merges with Epson Corporation to become Seiko Epson Corporation.

1985
Polaroid introduces a line of color transparency films, called Polaroid Professional Chrome.

1985
Agfa introduces Agfachrome CT100 color slide film.

1986
Kodak announces Kodachrome 200 Professional film, with new T-grain technology.

1987
Iris Graphics, Inc. introduces its 3000 series of digital color inkjet large format proofers, which print with a varying dot size to achieve a high perceived print resolution.

1987
Kodak introduces the Kodak Fling, its first one-time use camera, loaded with Kodacolor 110 film.

1987
Fuji introduces its first one-time use camera.

1987
PhotoMac photo editing software, the first 24-bit professional photography imaging software available for personal use on a Macintosh computer, is introduced.

1987
The Polaroid Corporation turns 50.

1988
Kodak releases the Ektapress Gold series of color negative films, made specifically for the photojournalist market.

1989
Kodak introduces the Kodak XL 7700 digital continuous tone printer.

1989
Kodak introduces the Kodak Weekend, an all-weather, one-time use camera.

1989
Kodak introduces the Kodak Fun Saver, a panoramic one-time use camera.

1990
Scitex Corporation acquires Iris Graphics, Inc.

1990
Kodak announces the development of a Photo CD system for viewing photographic images on televisions.

1990
Adobe Photoshop 1.0 for the Macintosh computer is released.

1991
1991 Kodak launches the DCS-100 1.3 megapixel camera, the first commercially available digital SLR camera (based on a Nikon F3 body).

1991
Edwin Herbert Land, founder of The Polaroid Corporation, dies at age 81.

1992
Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Minolta, and Nikon jointly begin to develop the Advanced Photographic System (APS).

1992
Cibachrome prints are now known as Ilfochrome prints.

1993
Nikon releases the Coolscan, a 35mm film scanner.

1993
Adobe Photoshop 1.0 for MS-DOS/Windows computers is released.

1994
Seiko Epson introduces the Epson Stylus Color, the first high-image quality, color inkjet printer.

1994
The Polaroid SprintScan 35, a slide and negative scanner, is introduced.

1996
The Advanced Photographic System (APS) of cameras and film is released.

1996
Polaroid introduces its first digital camera, the PDC 2000.

1996
Founded in 1995, Imacon of Denmark releases the FlexTight Precision I scanner.

1997
Seiko Epson introduces the Epson Stylus Photo inkjet printer, with six colored inks and Micro Piezo imaging technology.

1999
Polaroid introduces the i-Zone Pocket camera and sticker film.

1999
Nikon announces the D1 2.7 megapixel camera, its first commercially viable digital SLR.

2000
Creo acquires the prepress divisions of Scitex Corporation, Ltd., to form CreoScitex, which is shortened to Creo by 2002.

2000
Seiko Epson introduces the Epson Stylus Pro 9500 large format color inkjet printer, with newly-developed ColorFast inks which improve image longevity.

2000
Polaroid introduces the digital I-Zone Combo camera, which produces instant and digital photographs.

2000
The Polaroid SprintScan 45 Ultra multi-format film scanner is introduced.

2000
The world's first wireless camera phone, the J-SH04, is introduced for commercial consumption (made by Sharp Corporation and released by J-Phone).

2002
Kodak introduces the Kodak 8500 digital photo printer, a photo-quality, thermal desktop printer.

2002
Seiko Epson introduces the Epson Stylus Photo 950/960 inkjet printer, which has the highest resolution at the time of 2,880 dpi.

2002
Kodak takes Kodachrome 25 off the market.

2002
Canon launches the EOS 1Ds 11 megapixel camera, the first digital 35mm SLR with full-frame sensor.

2004
Kodak announces it will no longer sell reloadable 35mm cameras in North America and Western Europe by 2005.

2004
Flickr photo-sharing website is launched by husband and wife team, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake.

October 22, 2004
The very last slide projector rolls off the Kodak assembly line and is donated to the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, on November 18. Two others from the last production run are donated to the George Eastman House.

2005
Epson releases the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 44-inch professional wide-format printer, with new 8-color UltraChrome K3 ink technology and a resolution of 2880 x 1440 dpi.

2005
Kodak acquires Creo.

May 9, 2005
Kodak takes Kodachrome Super 8 film off the market. Laboratory development of this film is available until 2007.

May 14, 2005
Leopold Godowsky, Jr. and Leopold Mannes are inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for inventing Kodachrome film. Their patent number was 1,997,493.

This timeline was compiled by Jennifer Uhrhane in 2005 and adapted from the following sources:

“A Brief History of the Lumière Family,” “The Cinématographe,” “Lumière's Autochromes,” Lumière Institute website, http://www.institut-lumiere.org/english/frames.html.

“A Brief Timeline of Polaroid,” wall text from the 2002 PRC exhibition, American Perspectives: Photographs from the Polaroid Collection, adapted from Innovation/Imagination: 50 Years of Polaroid Photography (New York: Abrams, 1999) and Polaroid Access, Fifty Years (Access Press, 1989).

“Agfa History: 130 Years of Experience,” Agfa website, http://www.agfa.com/en/co/about_us/our_company/history/index.jsp

“Brand History,” The Polaroid Corporation website, http://www.polaroid.com.

“Canon EOS-1Ds 11 megapixel full-frame CMOS,” Digital Photography Review website, http://www.dpreview.com/news/0209/02092404canoneos1ds.asp.

“Digital single-lens reflex camera,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera#cite_note-24.

“Epson Milestones,” The Epson Company website, http://www.epson.co.jp/e/company/milestones.htm.

“Fujifilm Firsts,” Fujifilm website, http://www.fujifilmusa.com/about/corporate_profile/discover_fujifilm/index.html

Hall of Fame Inventor Profiles for George Eastman, Leopold Godowsky, Jr., Edwin H. Land, and Leopold Mannes, National Inventors Hall of Fame website, http://www.invent.org.

“History,” Ciba Specialty Chemicalswebsite, http://www.cibasc.com/index/cmp-index/cmp-about/cmp-abo-history.htm.

“History,” Creo website, now http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Creo-Inc-Company-History.html

Hodges, Laurent. “Color it Kodachrome,” American Heritage of Invention & Technology 3, no. 1 (Summer 1987).

Horenstein, Henry, and Russell Hart, Color Photography: A Working Manual, Boston: Little, Brown, 1995.

“How We Did It: Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, Co-founders, Flickr,” Inc. Magazine website, http://www.inc.com/magazine/20061201/hidi-butterfield-fake.html .

“Ilford Centennial Series Calendar 2003,” Ilford website

Jeffrey, Noel. “Proof or Consequences—Digital Proofing Systems in the Printing Industry,” American Printer, November 1995.

“Kodachrome Film Celebrates its Golden Anniversary,” “They Whistled While They Worked,” and “Kodachrome Film 1935–1985: A Colorful Chronology” (Kodak Tech Bits no. 2, 1985).

“ Kodachrome Slide Dating Guide,” Historic Photo Archive website, http://historicphotoarchive.com/f2/kodachrome.html.

“Kodak: History of Kodak: Milestones 1878–Present,” Kodak website, http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/kodakHistory/1878_1929.shtml.

Lafo, Rachel Rosenfield, and Gillian Nagler, eds., Photography in Boston, 1955-1985, Lincoln, MA: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, 2000.

Nicholas, Darryl C. “A Photographic Time Line” (Shutterbug, January 1999).

“Say ‘Cheese' To Your Cell: A History Of The Camera Phone,” PC Today website, http://www.pctoday.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2F2009%2Ft0706%2F08t06%2F08t06.asp.

Staubach, Horst W. “40 Years of Kodachrome,” translated by Rolf Fricke, Popular Photography (September 1976).

“Timeline of Photography Technology,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_photography_technology.

Various Epson press releases.

Various Kodak corporate communications and corporate information departmental publications.

“ View-Master,” The National Toy Hall of Fame at Strong Museum website, http://www.strongmuseum.org/NTHoF/NTHoF.html.