A new book by Luther College professor Aaron Lurth is now available through the Luther Book Shop in Decorah, bringing the history of film cameras into focus as a story about culture, technology, politics and personal experience—not just photography equipment.
Small Luxuries: Film Cameras is a 128-page illustrated hardcover published Aug. 4 by the Quarto Group. The book is available locally at the Luther Book Shop and online, according to Decorah Today’s report published Aug. 23, 2026, and updated Aug. 24.
A cultural history of cameras
Lurth, a visual communication professor and director of Luther’s visual communication program, wrote the book for readers interested in photography, graphic design and cultural history. It is not presented as a buying guide, and readers looking for equipment recommendations or detailed product specifications will find a different kind of book.
The chapters examine how camera design, technological development and American culture influenced one another. Lurth also considers the impact of major events around the world, the role of major manufacturers, notable camera models and influential figures. The book asks why certain cameras became culturally important and how companies developed their products.
Designed as a coffee-table-style volume, the book includes photographs, illustrations, vintage advertisements, newspaper clippings and other visual material. Lurth sourced and photographed about one-third of the images himself. Cameras represented in the book include models he owns or was able to access, including a 1909 Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie, described in the report as one of the oldest cameras featured.
The Leica story behind the book
One of the book’s central narratives follows Leica, the German camera company, during the rise of Nazi Germany. According to the report, Leica owner Ernst Leitz II helped approximately 300 Jewish people leave Nazi Germany during the 1930s.
Leitz assigned those people to offices in France, Great Britain, Hong Kong and the United States while presenting the arrangements as Leica employment. The effort later became known as the Leica Freedom Train.
Lurth uses the episode to demonstrate how camera history is also connected to political events and the lives of people affected by them. Innovation, manufacturing and industrial design are part of the story, but so are the decisions made by companies and individuals during periods of crisis.
Lurth’s visual storytelling background
Lurth earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Luther College in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography and graphic design from the University of Iowa in 2012. He later returned to Luther as a professor of art and visual communication.
His photography has appeared in projects associated with National Geographic, ABC, NBC, MTV.com, Time, the Des Moines Register, General Electric, CNET.com, the Red Cross and The Iowa Review. His films have screened at more than 100 festivals worldwide and received several awards, including the Iowa Motion Picture Association’s Best Documentary film.
In 2022, two of Lurth’s photographs entered the permanent collection of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Through Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, the Luther professor applies that visual storytelling background to the cameras, companies and people that helped shape how the world records and understands images.