AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Mr. Polaroid/10 Fun Facts About Polaroid

Black and white photo of a man in a suit coat and tie sitting at a desk in a lab — AMERICAN EXPERIENCE's *Mr. Polaroid* — Edwin Land in his lab

Katrina Ávila Munichiello has been the editor of EXPLORE GBH since 2023. For the past fifteen years, she has worked as a writer, editor, fact checker, and proofreader for organizations including F+W Media, World Tea News, Dotdash Meredith, and America’s Test Kitchen. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Yankee Magazine, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and Tea Magazine. In 2011, her first book, A Tea Reader: Living Life One Cup at a Time, was released by Tuttle Publishing. Her favorite hobbies are reading, supporting local theater, volunteering for local youth organizations, and watching every MASTERPIECE program available.

May 05, 2025

Updated May 06, 2025

This month, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE introduces viewers to Edwin Land, the visionary scientist and inventor of the Polaroid camera. Because of his invention, people could snap a picture and see it nearly instantly, something that they had never before experienced. The Polaroid camera revolutionized how people took pictures and captured memories. Land earned a reputation as one of the most creative and prolific inventors of the 20th century. And this story is a local one.

“Develop” your knowledge of Polaroid and Edwin Land with these fun facts.

Black and white photograph of a man in a three piece gray suit, standing on a city street holding a camera — Polaroid camera inventor Edwin Land in Cambridge, Massachusetts

1. The Polaroid story is local. Cambridge played a big role, from Land’s studies at Harvard University to the Brattle Street home he lived in for 50 years to the Kendall Square offices. Boston was where Polaroid’s first camera was sold, and Waltham was the home of the company’s factory. Cambridge drivers can now navigate Edwin Land Boulevard.

2. The name Polaroid comes from “polarizing plastics.” The technology was something Land originally invented to prevent headlight glare, a problem he identified after narrowly avoiding a car accident as a teen.

3. The idea for the camera came in 1944 when Land’s 3-year-old daughter asked why she had to wait to see the pictures he took. Within an hour, he had imagined the elements that would be required to produce an instant camera.

Antique camera with a rectangular base, black extended lens, fronted with a silver plate. — Polaroid's original camera, the Model 95

4. The first Polaroid camera, Model 95, was sold at Jordan Marsh in Boston’s Downtown Crossing in 1948. Although the price was $89.50 (the equivalent of more than $1,600 in today’s dollars), they sold their stock of 56 cameras in hours. Macy’s in New York City sold more than 4,000 cameras in the first week.

5. The first camera developed sepia-tone film in 60 seconds. Pulling the print from the camera caused a pod of developing chemicals in the film to burst, producing the image. “Coating” was spread on top to preserve the image, and people began to shake the image to dry the coating. In 2003, the band Outkast referenced this iconic process in their hit song “Hey Ya!,” singing “Shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Polaroid actually advises against shaking the photo.

6. Land actively recruited women scientists. Chemist Meroë M. Morse was part of some of Polaroid’s greatest innovations and was on many Polaroid patents.

Sepia tone photo of a woman with short curly hair and a white blouse, standing on a city street holding an antique camera — Polaroid chemist Meroë M. Morse with the Model 95

7. Land had more than 500 patents issued to him in his lifetime, making him one of the top patent holders in U.S. history.

8. He was known as Dr. Land even though he never even finished his undergraduate degree.

9. Land recruited the best-known photographers of his time, including Ansel Adams, William Wegman, Dorothea Lange, and Andy Warhol, and offered them free film and studio space if they agreed to provide images for the corporate collection. The collection eventually had more than 16,000 Polaroid prints by 120 recognized masters, including 443 photographs from Adams.

10. The best-known Polaroid facility is the building at 784 Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Originally the BB Chemical Building, Polaroid bought the building in 1979. The building was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. When asked where Polaroid was located, Land liked to say, “Between Harvard and MIT.”

Learn more about AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Mr. Polaroid here.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE/Mr. Polaroid
Mon (5/19) at 9pm on GBH 2 and streaming on the PBS app
Repeats:
Wed (5/21) at 6pm on GBH 44 and streaming on the PBS app
Sun (5/25) at 9pm on GBH 44 and streaming on the PBS app