Baker Library hosts an exhibition highlighting Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969.
In 1948, Edwin Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation, launched instant photography: a revolutionary technology that produced a photographic print in one minute. Within his research and manufacturing enterprise, Land succeeded in producing an entirely new photographic medium that would come to have unique cultural and artistic significance.
In 2006, the Polaroid Corporation generously donated its extensive corporate archives to Baker Library. This vast collection chronicles the history of one of the most innovative American companies of the twentieth century. Drawing from the collection, Baker Library’s current exhibition, “From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969,” focuses on the contributions of Meroë Morse—a key figure at Polaroid in the beginning decades of instant photography.
Land fostered a creative culture and interdisciplinary community within his innovative company. To this end, he hired individuals trained in science as well as those with backgrounds in the humanities. Morse, a Smith College art history graduate with no experience in business or science, would discover unique career opportunities for women in the post-war years.
After graduating from Smith in 1945, Morse worked on the company’s SX-70 project, Land’s secret initiative to create a photographic print in one minute without a darkroom. Polaroid commercially launched instant photography in 1948 and continuously improved upon the process. During this time, Morse became manager of black-and-white photographic research at the company and later director of special photographic research. Her laboratory worked tirelessly on developing films with faster speeds and those that produced black-and-white images with greater detail and tonal range.
Polaroid director of research Howard Rogers wrote about Morse that “the magic produced in her laboratory often seemed to go beyond what could reasonably be expected from the starting materials. I would watch with astonishment and admiration the way the concept of the product would emerge in remarkably short periods into the product itself.” The thousands of experiments Morse oversaw or conducted herself reveal the exhaustive process of testing, modifying, and retesting that took place in her laboratory. Morse coordinated research efforts with the company’s engineering, production, and marketing divisions to meet production demands as the sale of Polaroid cameras and films soared. The exhibition traces these research and development efforts with materials from the Polaroid Corporation Collection including correspondence, annual reports, early experiments, test photographs, patents, films, and cameras.
Land was interested in the performance and functionality of Polaroid products as well as the new medium’s artistic potential, a mission to which Morse also dedicated herself. In 1949, Land invited landscape photographer Ansel Adams to join the company as a consultant to test Polaroid cameras and films, a position he held until his death in 1984. Morse served as a principal company liaison to Adams. The exhibition features the photographer’s correspondence with Morse as well as test photos, which demonstrate Adams’s attempts to explore the technical and artistic possibilities of instant photography. Morse worked with other consultant photographers including Paul Caponigro, William Clift, Marie Cosindas, Nicholas Dean, Gerry Sharpe, Brett Weston, Ann Bell Robb, Laurie Seamans, and others, whose work is highlighted in the exhibition. She also championed a program to provide Polaroid film and equipment to emerging and established artists, which evolved into what was known as the Artist Support Program.
Polaroid cameras and films proved popular with amateur and professional photographers. Instant photography found a market in the fields of personnel identification, medicine, archaeology, journalism, insurance, construction, and law enforcement as well. By 1960, photographic products represented 97 percent of the company’s total income as Polaroid’s employee numbers, manufacturing footprint, and revenues increased exponentially. By 1963, the Polaroid Corporation cracked the Fortune 500. HBS faculty worked with the company on various research projects, and Polaroid was the subject of several HBS case studies over the years.
In many respects, Morse exemplified the creative philosophy of Land’s innovative company. Her position grew to that of trusted advisor to Land. She became a chief advisor to the CEO of a major corporation in the post-war era, when women’s jobs in industry declined and corporate positions were held predominantly by men. Materials from the Polaroid Corporation Collection provide insights into Morse’s inspiring career, the creative culture and interdisciplinary community fostered by Land, and the pivotal moment in Polaroid’s history with the commercial release of instant photography that propelled the pioneering company’s extraordinary growth.
The Polaroid Corporation Collection is available for research use in the de Gaspé Beaubien Reading Room, Baker Library. For more information about the exhibition see: https://www.library.hbs.edu/polaroid-concept
Melissa Banta is a guest curator in Baker Library Special Collections and Archives. She has extensive experience working with photograph and special collections at Harvard University. She was the curator of the 2016 Baker Library exhibition "At the Intersection of Science and Art: Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Corporation: The Formative Years."
Laura Linard is the Senior Director of Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, overseeing a vast collection of business archives and historical materials spanning from the 14th century to the present day. She works closely with HBS faculty and students in supporting research and teaching.
Comments