This is a selection of Leica cameras from Photographic History Collection (PHC) at the National Museum of American History (NMAH). The PHC holds  has a significant collection of Leica cameras, lenses, and accessories totaling more than 200 items including over 25 cameras from the 1920s to the 2000s. This Learning Lab collection includes a pdf finding aid for Leica cameras.  Included in the PHC are cameras used by photojournalists Carl Mydans and J. Ross Baughman.

For additional collections, search collections.si.edu.

Keywords: Leica, Barnack, 35mm, photography, camera

From the finding aid written by Anthony Brooks:
Leica Cameras have a unique position in the history of 35mm film photography. The Leica was not the first still camera taking 35mm film. It was not even the first commercially successful 35mm camera, but it set the gold standard for all other 35mm cameras and turned 35mm cameras from toys into serious professional tools.

The 35mm film gauge was first introduced in 1892 by Kodak for use by Thomas Edison to make movie films. Edison quickly settled on a standard frame size (18 x 24mm) with four sprocket holes per frame. This movie standard has remained unchanged. The growth of the movie industry in the early twentieth century required large quantities of 35mm film. 1000 feet of 35mm movie film creates less than 20 minutes of movie images. Soon there was interest in using this film for still photography and after 1910, the first 35mm cameras appeared. Most of the early 35mm camera designs used the single frame 18x24mm format and many used lengths of film capable of taking a hundred or more exposures. The quality of photographs from this small format was often disappointing and the number of exposures was a deterrent to amateur photographers. A contemporary small Kodak vest pocket camera took larger negatives on an eight exposure roll and produced better quality prints. The majority of early 35mm cameras were not commercially successful and are rare today. One exception was the American made Ansco Memo introduced in 1926 that for a few years had a dedicated following. However, the introduction of the Leica 35mm camera was to dramatically change the status of 35mm photography. 

The Leica was designed by Oscar Barnack, an employee of the Leitz Optical Company based in Wetzlar, Germany. Barnack may have conceived the first Leica for test exposures in the 18x24mm single frame format. Test exposures were often taken to check the lighting set-up for movies and portraits. However, at some point Barnack decided to design a 35mm camera for photography in its own right. In order to improve
image quality Barnack used two single frames and thus the standard 35mm film frame was born. The PHC contains many significant items that represent the history of Leica cameras.