A new book by Luther College professor Aaron Lurth is now available to readers in Decorah. Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, an illustrated cultural history of photography equipment and its wider influence, can be purchased through the Luther Book Shop and online.
Lurth, a visual communication professor and director of Luther’s visual communication program, published the 128-page hardcover Aug. 4 through the Quarto Group. Decorah Today reported the local availability Aug. 23, 2026, and updated the report Aug. 24.
A history of cameras, culture and technology
The book is aimed at readers interested in photography, graphic design and cultural history. It is not a buying guide, so readers seeking equipment recommendations or detailed product specifications will find a different approach.
Instead, Lurth examines the relationship between camera design, technological development and American culture. The chapters also consider the effects of major events around the world, the role of major manufacturers, notable camera models and influential figures.
The book asks why some cameras became culturally important and how companies developed their products. Its coffee-table-style format includes photographs, illustrations, vintage advertisements, newspaper clippings and other visual material. Lurth sourced and photographed about one-third of the images himself.
The cameras represented include models Lurth owns or was able to access. One example is a 1909 Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie, described in the report as one of the oldest cameras featured in the book.
The Leica story at the center
One of the book’s central narratives follows Leica, the German camera company, during the rise of Nazi Germany. The report says Leica owner Ernst Leitz II helped approximately 300 Jewish people leave Nazi Germany during the 1930s.
Leitz assigned those individuals 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 show that camera history is also connected to political events and the lives of people affected by them. Manufacturing, innovation and industrial design are part of the story, alongside 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. With Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, the Luther professor applies that visual storytelling experience to the cameras, companies and people that shaped how the world records and understands images.