What was the Kodak Shirley card and why is it said to matter for how skin tones are exposed and printed?

A 2014 NPR report (WNYC copy) describes Shirley cards as print-lab reference images for setting skin tone, quotes a lab technician on their use, relays Lorna Roth's view that film dynamic range was biased toward white skin, and reports later multiracial reference cards. Curator qualifications: Roth's argument is relayed by a journalist here; her own text is in C2-B110-J13-01/-02, which are held by the producer (archived-copy access route) - no curation of those rows without an L00/curation decision. Historical claims (dates, Kodak motives, Godard episode) not independently verified. Limitations: Journalistic secondary source. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-kodaks-shirley-cards-set-photographys-skin-tone-standard/",
      "note": "WNYC copy of NPR report (del Barco, 2014): lab technician quote; Roth paraphrase; Godard 1978"
    }
  ]
}