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

- id: art_01M5MCG3K62J3PR1ZJGJQPC0VV
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T02, T12 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T12:41:43.775Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MCG3K62J3PR1ZJGJQPC0VV

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.

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.

```json
{
  "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"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] 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. · locator: WNYC copy of NPR report (del Barco, 2014): lab technician quote; Roth paraphrase; Godard 1978 · source: https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-kodaks-shirley-cards-set-photographys-skin-tone-standard/

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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