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"Now Dolly, I wash 'oo, now I wipe 'oo."
On Thursday neatly dress 'em
"Half Full, Please."
"I am this dolly's mama."
"The Tea Party"
"A Stitch in time saves nine."
"A Stitch in time saves nine."
A Stitch in TIme Saves Nine
"Patchwork"
"Still There's No Place Like Home"
"My! but dose chotlates are dood."
"The doll party"
"Come to Mamma!"
"Children's Tea Party"
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Stereoscopes, also known as stereopticons or stereo viewers, were one of America's most popular forms of entertainment in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The first patented stereoscope was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. Wheatstone had experimented with simple stereoscopic drawings in 1832, several years before photography was invented. Later, the two principles were combined to form the stereoscope. Wheatstone's stereoscope was, however, not as popular as a later version made by Oliver Wendell Holmes, which was the most common type of stereoscope from 1881 until 1939.
A stereoscope is composed of two photos mounted next to each other, and a set of lenses to view the pictures through. Each picture is taken from a slightly different viewpoint, corresponding to the spacing of the eyes. When observing photos through the viewer, they merge into a single three-dimensional image. The right and left eyes see a slightly different version of the same scene, and taken together, we get an illusion of depth. This phenomenon had been known for quite some time, ever since the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid discovered the principles of binocular vision.
Early stereo photographs were taken with a camera mounted on a tripod with a sliding bar. Once the first photo was taken and a new photographic plate was inserted, the camera was moved about 7 cm along the bar (approximately the space between the eyes of an adult) and the second photo was taken.
Once motion pictures became popular, the interest in stereoscopes declined. However, a modern version of the old stereoscope principle, Viewmaster, was popular in the 1950s and 60s with children and adults.
Early stereograph publishers include:
Underwood and Underwood, 1882 in Kansas, USA. In the early 1900s, Underwood promoted their “country series,” each one consisting of 100 cards selected to simulate a guided tour of a country and accompanied by a guidebook written by an expert. Underwood attempted to represent many facets of the country depicted, including views of people, places, industry, historic sites, and natural resources. In addition, customers could purchase a patented map system that pinpointed where each stereograph was shot and what was included in the image. The boxed sets were so popular that the company produced tours of a number of countries, including Egypt, Ceylon, Japan, and India. By 1901, Underwood and Underwood produced 300,000 stereoscopes a year and had established itself as the leading US stereograph firm. In 1920, as the market faded, the company stopped producing stereographs.
Keystone View Company started in 1892 when amateur photographer B.L. Singley distributed a series of stereoviews documenting a flood. From this small beginning, Singley built one of the leading stereograph firms of the era. Prior to 1897, Singley himself photographed all of the Keystone views, but in 1898 the firm hired professional photographers to travel the world taking pictures. Keystone distinguished itself by pursuing the educational market, preparing teachers’ manuals to accompany stereograph collections and appointing a prestigious editorial board to select and comment on stereographs. Keystone, which published over 43,000 titles, stopped regular production of stereographs in 1939, but filled individual orders until 1970. |