0.3 Strategies and resources for studying stereographs  (Page 2/3)

(Thanks to David Getman and Pamela Francis for suggesting some of these questions.)

Viewing stereographs

To appreciate stereographs, you need to view them in their full glory in three dimensions. There are severalways that you can view stereographs:

• Purchase a plastic stereoviewer for about $3 from a store such as Berezin Stereo Photography Products ( (External Link) ). You can use this device to view stereographs on a computer screen, although you mayneed to make the window smaller. You can also print out and view the stereograph; try sizing it at about 4 x 7 inches.
• Find authentic stereoscopes from the nineteenth or early twentieth century on eBay or at antique stores ($50 and up).
• Use freeviewing, which doesn’t require a special instrument but does require you to cross your eyes slightly. If you can seethe hidden images in MagicEye, you can probably freeview. Learn more about freeviewing athttp://stereographer.com/viewing.html

Stereograph archives (online and physical)

The best way to understand stereographs is to examine them directly so that you can scrutinize their details andget a sense of them as physical objects. To determine whether a library near you has stereographs, try searching for“stereograph”in WorldCat, which aggregates records from thousand of libraries. So that you only get records for primary sources, limit the type of search to“Archival Materials”and“Visual Materials.”You can also restrict your search to a particular library or to libraries inyour area. Several institutions have provided online access to selections of their stereograph collections, including the Libraryof Congress and the Smithstonian Institution. You can also purchase original stereographs on web sites such as eBay and at antiquestores; the cost of a stereograph can range from $1 to over $300.

Francis Frith Stereocards of Egypt . National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. 12 August 2006. (External Link)

A selection of images from Frith’s important 1862 book, Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia IIllustrated .

G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection . Library of Congress. 12 August 2006. (External Link) )).

Includes over 4000 stereographs of the Middle East.

Keystone Mast Collection . University of California Riverside/California Museum of Photography. 12 August2006. (External Link)

The archive of the Keystone View Company (1892-1963), with 350,000 stereoscopic prints and negatives (only afraction of that number are currently online).

Small Town America: Stereoscopic Views from the Robert Dennis Collection, 1850-1920 . New York Public Library. American Memory. 12 August 2006. (External Link)

Includes 12,000 images of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from the 1850s to the 1910s from the RobertN. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views at the New York Public Library.

Stereographs Selection . Smithstonian Institution Research System. 12 August 2006. (External Link)

Includes the Underwood&Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, consisting of 28,000 glass platenegatives.

Stereographs and Postcards . American Antiquarian Society. 12 August 2006. (External Link) [link]