The Polaroid camera, an iconic device that opened the doors of photography to millions of people in the 1940s, allowed anyone to become a photographer with the simple press of a button, watching photos develop before their eyes. At a time when innovations in photography were led exclusively by men, Polaroid stood apart. During her relatively brief tenure at the company, a young art history student named Meroë Marston Morse became one of its greatest visionaries. She eventually rose to become director of the special photographic research division, with eighteen patents bearing her name.
As a senior photo editor for National Geographic, I have always loved photography. As a child, I remember watching family members use Polaroids to capture small moments during our vacations, while I used a Nikon camera with 35mm film. But when a photographer friend showed me how to use a toothpick to push the dyes of a developing Polaroid, creating a more impressionistic result that resembled a painting, I became a fan.
I know well the history of Polaroid and its founder, Edwin Land. But when I recently read Morse's name, I became intrigued and wanted to learn more about the role she played during the twenty years she spent at the company.
A NEW CAMERA COMPANY
Meroë Marston Morse joined Polaroid in 1945, just after graduating from Smith College, where she had studied art history under Clarence Kennedy. A friend and associate of Edwin Land, Kennedy often recommended his best students to work at the company.
Few weeks after graduating from Smith College, Meroë Marston Morse joined Polaroid and quickly became one of the company's most visionary leaders. She is seen here in a test photograph taken by the Polaroid laboratory team in the 1940s.
In Land's eyes, Meroë Marston Morse became "a kindred spirit, a work colleague, a protector," writes Victor K. Kennedy in his biography of Edwin Land, "Insisting on the Impossible." She didn't need to have the Polaroid method explained to her: "hypothesize, test the hypothesis, modify the hypothesis, test through another experiment, a high-speed sequential train where multiple hypotheses and experiments are proposed each hour," a quote from one of the company's inventors, as recorded by McElheny.
A few short months after her arrival, Meroë Marston Morse was in charge of the black and white film division, where she led her team through the departments throughout the day as the company made a transition from monochrome sepia photos to black and white films.
This process came with its share of challenges. Not only did the crystals in the darkest areas of a photo reflect light, but the paper they used easily absorbed fingerprints. And perhaps worst of all, some photos would fade after a few months. Chris Bonanos, whose book "Instant" documents the history of the camera company, writes that Land described the creation of black and white film as "one of the most complicated things Polaroid has accomplished."
The young woman was at the heart of it all, as former Polaroid employees John and Mary McCann told me during a recent phone interview. Morse's team analyzed minute variations from a standard exposure as they went along, Mary explained, and Morse herself "had the eye to detect differences" thanks to her art history education. "Land and she went from those early laboratory experiments to selling films and earning billions of dollars," John adds.
THE UNION OF SCIENCE AND ART
John McCann told me that the time he spent at Polaroid reminded him of the Renaissance, when "the best scientists were the best painters and they did everything." Polaroid's artists valued science and experiments, and their perspectives counted as much as those of trained chemists.
Within Meroë Marston Morse's laboratory, scientists were dedicated to creating technologies that suited artists. She was the liaison between scientists and photographers who served as consultants to the company. She thus built relationships with talented photographer Minor White, color photography pioneer Marie Cosindas, and landscape photographer Ansel Adams.
Ansel Adams was already an established photographer, adept at large format, black and white photography, when he began his role as a consultant for Polaroid in 1948. His photograph "Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park," taken in 1927, had made his name in the photography world. Yet Adams was very interested in Polaroid's technology, especially the cameras and black and white films that Meroë Marston Morse was developing. They were in almost constant contact.
In a letter to Morse in 1953, Adams complained about the company's advertisements, which he said "serve to emphasize the amateur and casual use of the camera and processes which have, I think, minimized the most important aspects. Most people consider it almost like a toy."
Ansel Adams helped establish a process that field photographers used to evaluate themselves, long before the advent of digital cameras. He would take a shot with a Polaroid to test the composition and exposure of an image before capturing it on film.
A LEGACY
Morse succumbed to cancer in 1969, at the age of forty-six, before Polaroid became an international brand and an important cultural element, before the disposable camera craze, and long before Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
In a note addressed to the entire company announcing her death, Polaroid director Richard Young wrote: "To those who knew and loved Meroë, our lives have been enriched and enlarged. Her kindness, sensitivity, and interest in everyone were matched only by her generosity."
In the 1970s and 1980s, other camera companies began to imitate Polaroid's instant photography approach and aesthetic. In the late 2000s, photographers worldwide had to mourn when the last Polaroid films expired after the company's bankruptcy.
"9-Part Self Portrait," a collage of large-format Polapan photos by artist Chuck Close, is displayed at Sotheby's during a preview of the Polaroid collection, a splendid collection of photographers that Land launched in the 1940s. Morse was key to establishing the company's relationships with the artists in the collection.
But in early 2008, as the last factories were closing, Polaroid fans Florian "Doc" Kaps and André Bosman raised more than one million dollars to save the factories, the films, and most importantly, the company's chemical knowledge. They eventually managed to bring Polaroid back to market.
Today, in a world where digital photography reigns supreme, the spirit that Meroë Marston Morse and others instilled in the company endures among photographers worldwide. Her vision helped transform Polaroid from a simple camera company into a cultural phenomenon that bridged the gap between science and art, making photography accessible to millions while maintaining the highest artistic standards.
The impact of Morse's work extends far beyond the technical innovations she helped develop. Her understanding of art history and her ability to see the aesthetic potential in scientific advances helped shape how Polaroid positioned itself in the market. She recognized that instant photography wasn't just about convenience – it was about democratizing the artistic process and giving people immediate access to their creative vision.
Through her relationships with renowned photographers like Adams, White, and Cosindas, Morse helped establish Polaroid's credibility in the serious photography community. This legitimacy was crucial in elevating the brand from a novelty item to a respected tool used by professional artists and casual photographers alike.
The Renaissance-like atmosphere that John McCann described at Polaroid during Morse's tenure reflects her influence in creating an environment where scientific rigor and artistic vision could coexist and enhance each other. This interdisciplinary approach became a hallmark of the company's culture and contributed significantly to its innovative success.
Morse's legacy lives on not only in the patents that bear her name but in the countless photographs taken with the technology she helped develop. From family snapshots to fine art pieces, the instant photography revolution she helped launch changed how people think about capturing and sharing moments. Her work laid the foundation for the instant gratification culture that would later define social media and digital photography.
The story of Meroë Marston Morse serves as an important reminder of the often-overlooked contributions of women in the technology and photography industries. Her vision, technical expertise, and ability to bridge the worlds of science and art helped create one of the most beloved and enduring brands in photography history.
