| Founded: | 1945 ā Chicago, IL, USA |
| Ā | Ā |
| Currently: | defunct |
The Imperial Camera Corporation was a Chicago-based American company founded as the Herbert George Co. in 1945 by Herbert Weil and George Israel. The company is probably best known for its production of inexpensive plastic box cameras for sale under its own brands as well as on behalf of other companies and organizations including the Walt Disney Company, the Roy Rogers Show, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Girl Scouts of the USA.
After its establishment at the end of World War II, the Herbert George Co. manufactured its first camera: the Donald Duck, an officially licensed Disney product featuring the likeness of Donald Duck with his nephews Huey, Louie, and Dewey on the back. The company also produced a non-Disney version of the Donald Duck camera, choosing instead to create its own in-house brand to sell it under: Herco. The Herbert George Co. used the Herco name for a number of different box and pseudo-TLR cameras until the mid 1950s when they began releasing cameras under the Imperial brand as well. The company was sold to new owners in 1961 who changed its name to the Imperial Camera Corporation before shuttering it for good.
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 270-273, 301.
The Imperial Instant Load 900 is a simple viewfinder camera manufactured by the Imperial Camera Corporation of Chicago. When it debuted in 1963, the 900 was one of the first cameras designed to be used with Kodakās 126 film cartridge which had been introduced just earlier that year.
The Herco Imperial 620 Snap Shot is a simple plastic box camera that was manufactured by the Herbert George Co. of Chicago (which would later become the Imperial Camera Corporation). This and other box cameras like it were initially sold under the brand name āHercoā and then, somewhat confusingly, under the āImperialā brand. While doing my research, I found this camera being referred to as both the āHerco Imperialā and the āImperial Herco.ā This camera will be referred to in this article as the Herco Imperial because it just makes more sense given the hierarchy of text on the camera itself.
