Henry William Bevan operated a photography studio in Lowestoft, England from 1875 to 1896. The studio was passed on to the Jenkins family.

Thompson, T. & Son was a photography studio that operated in Toronto from 1891 to 1900

Baker Art Gallery was a photography studio in Columbis, Ohio.

Partnership between Charles James Angel Isaac Gunn and William Slade Stuart.

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university located within the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area.

Founded in 1995 by Gavin Affleck and Richard de la Riva and based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Started in 1971 by Allan Waisman Waisman, Dewar, Grout, Carter Inc. In 1995 the company merged with Aitken Wreglesworth Associates Ltd, forming Architectura Planning Architecture Interiors Inc. In 2002 Architectura was purchased by Stantec.

Lenscape Incorporated was founded in 1981 by two photographers, Elizabeth Jones and Pedro Ho, to provide photography and presentation services to architectural firms and construction companies using their own photography lab and studio, located at 645 King Street East in Toronto. Throughout the 1980s, the company grew to become the largest purely architectural photography business of its kind in Canada. In 1986, they relocated to a larger space at 222 Eastern Avenue to accommodate the growth in their company. Lenscape documented project sites in Ontario, throughout Canada, and globally.

The 1990s witnessed the proliferation of digital photography and Lenscape responded by switching their focus from print to digital images. These changes precipitated a steady decrease in staff until 2001, when the co-founders split. Pedro Ho left the company to pursue digital printing while Elizabeth Jones continued Lenscape and focused on print-based images. Lenscape remained committed to film until 2006, when client demands for digital images dictated the total adoption of digital photography.

Project files pertaining to work performed by Lenscape for specific clients are found at the Archives of Ontario in the Lenscape Incorporated fonds, F 4593.

Founded in 1955 by architects Vincent Rother, Charles Eliott Trudeau and John Bland.

Barton Myers Associates was founded in 1975 in Toronto by Barton Myers. The Toronto office operated between 1975- 1987. He opened another office in Los Angeles in 1984, which is still in operation.

Founded in 1875 by Alexander Pollock Watt (1834-1914), A P Watt is the oldest literary agency in the world, representing some of the foremost British and Irish writers of the 20th Century. Its current authors include leading novelists, biographers, historians, and specialist writers pre-eminent in their field. The agency also represents some outstanding children’s authors and illustrators. A P Watt's clients include a Nobel Prize winner, four Booker Prize winners, three Orange Prize winners, several Whitbread and Costa Prize winners, and the first Children’s Laureate. Our writers have created many bestselling books, long-running television series and hit films. In December 2012 A P Watt joined the United Agents Partnership, creating the UK’s largest and most prestigious literary, media and talent agency.

Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine. It has since been purchased several times by companies including National General, Carl Lindner's American Financial and, most recently, Bertelsmann. It became part of Random House in 1998, when Bertelsmann purchased it to form Bantam Doubleday Dell. It began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books, with some original paperbacks as well. It expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions.

Little, Brown and Company was founded in Boston in 1837, when Charles Little and James Brown formed a partnership “for the purpose of Publishing, Importing and Selling Books.” The company was primarily a bookseller at first, as were most publishing firms of that day, and has in fact traced its roots back even further – to 1784 and a bookstore opened on Marlborough Street by Ebenezer Battelle. Mr. Little and Mr. Brown began by publishing the works of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, and highlights of their early lists include Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Letters of John Adams, the speeches of Daniel Webster, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s landmark The Common Law. In 1859 the company took over publishing rights to a book entitled Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett.

Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, Da Capo became a general trade publisher in the mid-1970s. It joined Perseus Books in 1999. Today it has a wide-ranging list of mostly nonfiction titles, both hardcover and paperback, focusing on history, music, the performing arts, sports, and popular culture.

J.M. Dent & Sons, book publishers of London, England, was founded in 1888 by Joseph Malaby Dent (1859-1926). The company achieved success by selling cheap editions of the classics to the working class. Dent's first major production, the Temple Shakespeare series, was established in 1894, followed in 1906 by Everyman's Library, a series of 1000 volumes. Eventually, Dent's publishing activities expanded to include textbooks, children's books, educational books, self-help books, and travel guides. Dent remained in the forefront of the publishing field by expanding sales to foreign markets, including Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. The Canadian office was located in Toronto, Ontario. It was bought by British Published Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1988.

Didier Publishers head office was in New York, New York.

The Westminster Press was the publishing arm of the Board of Christian Education of The United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.

In ca. 1864, Moïse Léon and Jules Lévy took over the stereoscopic department at the Ferrier Père & Fils & Soulier company manufacturing glass stereographs. In 1867 the company was renamed to Léon & Lévy. Furthermore, during that year the Léon & Lévy company held the monopoly over photographing the International Exposition in Paris, France.

The London Stereoscopic Co. was created in 1854 by George Swann Nottage. They mass-produced card mounted stereographs.

Founded by Hawley C. White. This company specialized in the production of stereoscopes and views. Using techniques for mass production, White became one of the largest stereoscope manufacturers in his time. White son's Clarence and Harrie White were the photographers for the company. Many of the patents taken out for H.C. White Co. are under Harrie's name. Some of these patents included small redesigns of products done in the interests of cost savings. An example of this can be seen in the introduction of aluminium hoods, lens holder and eventually entire bodies of stereoscopic viewers. H.C. White Co. offered many different styled stereoscopes available for resale through other retailers.

For a complete history of the Y. M. C. A. please consult their website http://ymca.ca/Who-We-Are/YMCA-History

Yale University Press was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. He would act as director until the mid-1940s when he became Chairman of the Board. For the next 15 years there was succession of directors that included Edgar Furniss, Norman Donaldson, and, in 1959, Chester Kerr, who oversaw the Press for the next twenty years. Also in 1959, the Press moved its headquarters from 143 Elm Street to 149 York Street. The year 1961 brought two major changes. The Press formally became a department of Yale, further enhancing its ties to the University (though it remained, and still remains, financially and operationally autonomous), and in the same year it established a London branch—then called Yale University Press, Limited—to sell books abroad. Nearly a decade later the role of the London branch began to expand, in part due to Yale University’s commitment to assist in the publishing efforts of the Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, established in London in 1970. In 1973, John Nicoll was hired to oversee the Press’s London office, which he did for the next thirty years, developing it into a full-fledged editorial division with its own acquisitions strategy and identity, its own reputation for excellence, and its own specialties—not least among them the publishing of extremely high quality, critically acclaimed art books and distinguished works of social history. The name of the division was changed to Yale University Press, London, in 1984, and today the London office, overseen by its present director, Robert Baldock, is responsible for nearly one third of Yale University Press’s titles
In 2001 Yale partnered with Harvard University Press and MIT Press to create TriLiteral LLC, a limited liability partnership to manage distribution of all three presses’ publications, and together built a 155,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Rhode Island.

The Board of School Commissioners was established in 1865 under section 49 of the Act for the better Encouragement of Education. The commission consisted of twelve members and included local residents and members of city council, half appointed by the Governor in Council and half by the City Council. The board exercised the powers granted to it under the Education Act, which included hiring teachers and communicating with residents. The board was also able to select and purchase new sites for schools; build or repair school buildings; improve school grounds; and purchase equipment and materials for schools. Both provincial and municipal governments provided funding for the board’s activities. The structure of the board changed under chapter 6 of the 1991 statutes although its function remained the same. Membership was reduced to eight representatives of specific wards who were elected during the regular election year. By the 1990s the commission was also referred to as the School Board or the Halifax District School Board. The board was incorporated into the newly formed Halifax Regional School Board in August, 1996.

University Microfilms, Incorporated was a subsidiary of Xerox Corporation.

Smith, Beck, and Beck is a photography firm owned by Joseph Beck and known for his patented specially designed stereoscopes, optical instruments and microscopes. This included the Mirror Stereoscope developed in 1859 to view stereo pairs mounted in books. In 1860, the firm produced a box type viewer that folds into its own storage case. A later variation of the box type viewer was the table model designed with compartments built to hold stereo views. The table model was also able raise the viewer to a convenient gazing height. Both of these stereoscopes were extremely popular and sold over a 30 year period.

Harlequin Books Ltd was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1948 by Richard H. G. Bonnycastle. Early in its history, Harlequin published inexpensive reprints of detective stories, cookbooks, westerns, and a smattering of tragic love stories. It wasn't until the 1950s when Bonnycastle's wife Mary took on editorial duties in the 1950s, she focused on the vast untapped market of female readers in Canada who loved reading British romance novels. For more information on the company please consult their webpage.

The Max Bell Foundation was created by the late George Maxwell (Max) Bell in 1972. The Foundation has made grants across Canada for a wide range of charitable purposes which benefit Canadians. Upon creating the Foundation, Max Bell charged the Board of Directors with managing the funds wisely, setting the Foundation’s mission, and selecting the fields in which grants would be made. Over the years, those fields have included: media and journalism, physical fitness, sports, oceans and inland waters, health care, the relationships of Canada and Canadians with countries of the Asia Pacific region, veterinary science, and education. While the fields of interest have changed over time, the primary purpose of Max Bell Foundation has remained the same. In contributing to Canadians and their communities, the Foundation has always sought to support innovative endeavours which encourage the development of human potential in pursuit of social, educational, and economic goals. Since its inception, Max Bell Foundation has had the privilege of funding hundreds of projects and initiatives across Canada totalling more than $89 million.

Established in 1880 by Leonard McGlashan and Dr. Gardner Clarke. The business was first located at Humberstone, but removed to Niagara Falls in 1895. The company remained in business until 1955.

The Wellesley Central Health Corporation was founded in 1999 after the closure of The Wellesley Central Hospital in 1998. It switched the site's focud from delivering health services to redeveloping the site for other community based uses. Today the land houses a long-term care facility, a not-for-profit supportive housing complex, for-profit housing and a public park.
WCHC began to change its focus to community based research, and began funding projects, evolving further to become involved in policy analysis, and research. In 2006 it changed its name to The Wellesley Institute, reflecting the change in its focus from re-development to a think tank.

Company founded by M. J. O'Brien in 1917.

Robert Hale Limited was a London publisher of fiction and non-fiction books, founded in 1936, and also known as Robert Hale. It was based at Clerkenwell House, Clerkenwell Green. It ceased trading on 1 December 2015 and its imprints were sold to The Crowood Press.

Bouregy and Curl, Inc was a publishing company based out of New York, New York. Its founding partners were Thomas Bouregy and Sam Curl and opened the business in 1950. In the mid 1950's Sam Curl left the business and it was renamed Thomas Bouregy & Co., Inc. As of June 4, 2012, Thomas Bouregy & Co., Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Amazon Content Services LLC.

Founded in 1942, La Société des écrivains canadiens' mandate was to create a group for french language writers of Canadian citizenship (living in Canada or abroad) and francophone authors published in Canada or elsewhere. The society served as an advocacy group to protect the interests of Canadian literature and french language writers. Their general assembly is composed of members from across the country, including five members from Montreal, three from Quebec and four from other regions of Canada. The society hosted regional chapters that would organize local author discussions, conferences, and support the publication of the SEC Bulletin.

Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Canadian Independent Film Caucus, a national association of documentary producers and directors. It began as an initiative to showcase works by Canadian Independent Film Caucus filmmakers, and represent the interest of Canadian independent documentary producers and artists. In 1996, Hot Docs became a separate incorporated organization with a mandate to showcase and support the work of Canadian and international documentary filmmakers and to promote documentary production in general.

Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market. Every year, the festival presents hundreds of documentaries from across Canada and around the world to Toronto audiences and international delegates. The festival also hosts conference sessions, market pitches and industry services for documentary practitioners, including the renowned Hot Docs Forum (formerly the Toronto Documentary Forum), Hot Docs Deal Maker and the Doc Shop. The festival attracts filmmakers, buyers, distributors and broadcasters from around the world.

Hot Docs owns and programs documentaries year-round at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, a century-old landmark theater located in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood. Prior to 2016 the theater was known as the Bloor Hot Docs cinema. Throughout the year, the Hot Docs Showcase festival tours nationwide and presents a selection of films from the Hot Docs Festival in Canadian cities which do not have their own documentary film festivals.

The Society of Graphic Art, or Graphic Arts Club, was organized in 1904 by the members of the Toronto Art Student's League and the Mahl-stick Club. Charles William Jefferys was one of the founding members. In 1909 the Canadian National Exhibition granted the Society space at its annual fall fair. The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts supported the Society from 1912.

Le Cercle du Livre de France was a publishing house founded by Pierre Tisseyre, based on an original idea of ​​two Americans, Horace Marston and Charles Spilka. They had created Le Cercle in New York so that the French brides of the G.I. could get French language books. From 1948 to 1964, Pierre Tisseyre worked for them on contract and on the condition that he could continue publishing Canadian books. They would choose the books that will be presented each month to the members at the very moment of their publication in France. In 1949, he created the Le Cercle de France Prize (manuscript prize). In 1964, he decided to buy the business from Horace Marston. He became the owner in 1967.

Souvenir Press is an independent book publisher, started in 1951 by Ernest Hecht, who still leads the company today.

Charles E. Merrill Books Inc. was located in Columbus, Ohio.

Columbia University Press (CUP) was founded in 1893 by Columbia University. In its first quarter century, CUP’s list focused on politics. In 1928 an editorial department was formed to create The Columbia Encyclopedia, the first comprehensive English-language encyclopedia in one volume. In the 1940s, building on the success of The Columbia Encyclopedia, the Press expanded its reference program by publishing the Granger’s Index to Poetry and The Columbia Gazetteer of the World.

William James Gage was born in Toronto. He was was educated in Brampton and at the Toronto Normal School. Gage taught for three years and then briefly studied medicine. He was hired as a bookkeeper by publisher Adam Miller & Company. After Miller's death in 1875, Gage became a partner in the business. In 1879, the firm was renamed W. J. Gage & Company. The company specialized in textbooks, but also printed writing paper and envelopes. It was renamed Gage Educational and is now part of Nelson Publishing.

Braun (Carl Braun Camerawerk) of Nuremberg, Germany, was originally founded in 1906 as an optical and industrial production house. In 1948, the company began producing box film cameras, in rollfilm and 35mm format. In 1954, the company began producing slide projectors. Braun ceased making cameras in the 1960. The company began to focus on its established line of slide and optical projectors, selling more than four million units by 1997. In 2000 the company became insolvent.

Although Neptis has conducted comparative urban region projects, its focus has been the Greater Toronto Region. It was established in the late 1990s. The foundation began with a comprehensive review of aspects of the region, the six-volume “Portrait of a Region”, and has proceeded through series of growth issue papers, historic studies and commentaries.

The Toronto-Related Region Futures Studies examined several growth and development scenarios for the Toronto region, including the consequences of developing under the business-as-usual conditions of dispersed growth patterns over the next 30 years. This study, in particular, was part of a call to action for the Ontario Government to re-engage in regional planning issues.

Mapping and spatial analysis to communicate regional planning issues has been an important part of the Neptis research program. As a result we have partnered with the GIS and Cartography Office in the Department of Geography at University of Toronto to support many research projects.

More recently Neptis was invited to partner with a network of academic researchers, called Geothink.ca, to study and improve the use of Geospatial Web 2.0 tools for communication and engagement. Ryerson University is a local partner on this 5-year SHHRC-funded partnership grant to collaborate on the Neptis Geoweb, a dynamic, online map-based visualization of the past, present and future land use and transportation patterns within the Greater Toronto Region.

In 2013, Neptis collaborated with Ed Levy to produce a webbook on the history of rapid transit in Toronto.

Neptis is also part of a group of funders who have supported the production of a Community Energy Guide in collaboration with researchers from the University of British Columbia.

Thomas Maclean, bookseller and publisher was born August 12, 1818 in Northern Ireland. Thomas Maclear opened a bookstore in Toronto in the summer of 1848. He advertised as an agent of the Glasgow publishing firm Blackie and Son, and he may have worked for this company in Scotland and Canada before starting his own business. About November 1850 he began publishing William Henry Smith's Canada: past, present and future in a series of ten paper-covered parts. Two years later he launched another ambitious publication, the monthly Anglo-American Magazine, edited by Robert Jackson Macgeorge and illustrated with wood-engravings by John Allanson, Frederick C. Lowe, and other artists. In January 1854, in partnership with William Walter Copp and William Cameron Chewett, Maclear purchased the major part of the business of bookseller and publisher Hugh Scobie from his widow. The new firm, Maclear and Company, continued the Anglo-American Magazine (it ceased in 1855) and the distribution of Blackie and Son’s publications as well as the printing, publishing, and bookselling activities established by Scobie. The partners had purchased Scobie’s business for £6,500, £1,000 down and the balance to be paid over 11 years. The debt was endorsed by Chewett’s wealthy father, James Grant Chewett, who in return received security on the whole business and thus had a say in its operation. Maclear evidently did not relish the amount of power held by Chewett Sr and in 1857 he withdrew from the partnership and set up on his own as a wholesale bookseller and stationer. (Copp and Chewett would continue to use the name Maclear and Company until 1861.) Throughout most of the 1860s Maclear and Company appears in the Toronto directories as booksellers and stationers, but by the end of the decade Maclear had returned to publishing. He retired in 1887 and moved to Montreal, Quebec two years later. He died January 2, 1898.

Mr. Robert A. Laidlaw established the Laidlaw Foundation in 1949 with an endowment of $50,000 to benefit charitable, educational, conservation and cultural organizations in Ontario. Further capital contributions in excess of $11 million were made to the Foundation by R.A. Laidlaw, his two sons, Dr. Nicholas and Mr. Roderick Laidlaw and his brother Walter C. Laidlaw. The Family drew its wealth from the R Laidlaw Lumber Company founded in 1886, by the father of R.A. and Walter C. Laidlaw. The Lumber Company was sold to MacMillan-Bloedel in 1972.

Family members assumed leadership roles in many community agencies: Mr. R. A. Laidlaw served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hospital for Sick Children for 18 years and headed the hospital’s 1947-51 capital campaign. He was also a founding director of the National Ballet of Canada, the National Ballet School, served as a director of Upper Canada College, the Royal Ontario Museum, the McMichael Gallery and the Quetico Foundation. Mr. Walter C. Laidlaw served on the Board of Central Neighbourhood House (CNH) between 1912 and 1962. He bought an estate on Lake Simcoe known as The Gables and turned it over to CNH as a summer camp for the impoverished residents living in the Ward. Mrs. Katharine Smith, R.A. ‘s daughter also served for many years on the CNH Board. Mr. Roderick Laidlaw was involved in the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and other community organizations. Dr. Nicholas Laidlaw served for many years as a director of the West End Crèche, the National Ballet School and the Ontario Psychological Foundation.

In its early years, the Foundation’s income was disbursed primarily to institutions of national stature in the areas of health, education, culture and the arts, and to institutions in which the Founders and Directors had a long-standing interest. As the value of its assets grew in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the Foundation developed broader public interests in response to emerging public concerns, e.g., in children’s mental health, graduate fellowships in social work, nursing, child psychiatry and law, the arts, social welfare research and policy, and land/habitat conservation. In 1963, advisors, who were recognized leaders in their respective professional disciplines, were recruited to assist the Board and provide peer assessment for project grant decisions and to advise the Board on strategic program development. In addition, the Directors appointed a professional staff to work with applicants and co-ordinate the Foundation’s activities. The Board decided that the majority of the Foundation’s Directors would be drawn from the community and not be members of the family.

During this period the Foundation convened a number of expert workshops in the areas of child development and children’s mental health and seeded a number of major studies, professional development activities and demonstration projects.

In the 1980s the Foundation established a focused program in the arts. Through this program it contributed to the Canadian cultural sector by funding the creation of new works for the performing arts. In 1981, the Foundation’s Board was expanded and two of the Founder’s grandchildren were invited to join. The majority of the Board members continued to be independent directors. Towards the end of the decade the Foundation identified and launched its Great Lakes Conservation Program. The Foundation ended the decade as an active advocate for social assistance reform in Ontario.

In the 1990s the Foundation adopted an ambitious $5 million seven-year Children at Risk Program that set to improve the life chances of children from a research, practice, policy and theoretical perspective. A number of important national and local initiatives were supported.

In the late 1990s the Foundation expanded the Board to twelve members and invited young people to serve on the Board and program committees. Funding was set aside for a new youth engagement program and youth recreation initiative.

In 1997 the Foundation established a new environmental initiative to replace its former Great Lakes program. The new program, Environmental Contaminants and Child Health aimed to broaden the environmental constituency by linking health professionals and environmentalists in areas of air quality, and the reduction if not the elimination of toxins in the food supply.

In 1999, Building Socially & Economically Inclusive Communities became the latest program initiative within the Foundation’s Child & Youth fund.

In 2001, to mark its fiftieth anniversary the Foundation published Making Change: 50 Years of the Laidlaw Foundation (ECW Press).

2005 marked a year of change for the Foundation. The board and staff began developing a strategic focus that would effectively direct our efforts to affect change. The focus would be on enhancing the well-being of Canada’s young people. In 2007 the Board adopted a new five year strategic plan that would see us investing in innovation, convening and catalyzing change, generating and communicating knowledge and building strong internal operations. The Foundation renewed its commitment in 2013 and continues to strive towards affecting change in systems and institutions that affect the lives of young people.

Five American camera companies combined in 1899 to create the Rochester Optical and Camera Company: Rochester Optical Company, Rochester Camera and Supply Company, Ray Camera Company, Monroe Camera, and Western Camera Manufacturing Company of Chicago. The new company continued to sell the camera brands created by its predecessors, including the Premo, the Poco, Ray and the Cyclone. The company was unsuccessful, however and was was sold to the Eastman Kodak Company in 1903, the name changed to Rochester Optical Company.

Source: Kingslake, R. (1974). A History of the Rochester, NY Camera and Lens Companies. Photographic Historical Society. Retrieved from: http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/Rochester.html#The Rochester Optical Company

Wm. R. Whittaker, Ltd. was a maker of aircraft parts based in Hollywood (Los Angeles, California/USA). It was founded by William and Robert Whittaker. From 1947 to the mid-1950s they produced subminiature viewfinder cameras for 16mm film.

Zeiss Ikon was formed in Germany in 1926 by the merger of camera manufacturers Contessa-Nettel, Ernemann, Goerz and Ica.

The company formed one part of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, another part being the optical company Carl Zeiss. Logically, most of the Zeiss Ikon cameras were equipped with Carl Zeiss lenses; and the formerly independent companies, in particular Goerz, had to shut down their own lens manufacture.

The merged company was also obliged to use Compur shutters for 80% of its cameras. Thus only the simplest cameras could get cheaper shutters like the Klio. Soon AG Hahn für Optik und Mechanik, Kassel, and Goerz Photochemisches Werk GmbH, Berlin, joined the Zeiss Ikon syndicate. Both companies, Zeiss Ikon and Hahn, were also in the business of producing keys, latches an lock cylinders. This business was more and more concentrated in the former optical factories of Goerz in Berlin.

The group became one of the big companies in the photo technology capital Dresden, with plants in Stuttgart and Berlin. It continued several products of its constituents for a while, but also created new ones like the quality folder Ikonta and the medium format rangefinder camera Super Ikonta. Until WWII Zeiss Ikon was the world's market leading maker of 8mm movie cameras. In addition to cameras and lenses, Zeiss Ikon also produced some optics for medical applications.

Source: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Zeiss_Ikon

Iloca (styled "Jloca") cameras were produced from 1950 to 1959 by Wilhelm Witt of Hamburg. Early models were the Iloca I, Ia, II and IIa, which were small and relatively simple viewfinder and rangefinder cameras. The "Quick" series introduced automatic cocking of the shutter when winding the film. The name "Rapid" came from the adoption of a rapid winding lever. The cameras were sold very successful in the 1950s through the Sears mail order catalogue in the USA. However, the company was probably best known for their range of stereo cameras.

Their main claim to fame was the introduction of the first 35mm camera with an integrated electric motor wind. Unfortunately it was very expensive and sold poorly in Europe. It was much more successful in the USA where it was sold as the Graphic 35 Electric. The company was acquired by Agfa around 1960 and the Iloca Electric was re-introduced as the Agfa Selecta m - only this time with a fixed f2.8 Solinar lens in place of the interchangeable bayonet mount.

Maclean-Hunter's employee newsletter "Newsweekly."