Stereographs were a form of entertainment that was prevalent from the 1850’s to the 1930’s. A stereograph consists of a cardboard card with two photographic images side by side. When viewed through a device called a stereoscope, these two images become one image. When an individual looks through a stereoscope the image appears three-dimensional, seeming to jut outwards toward the viewer. The three-dimensional quality of these cards when placed in a stereoscope, contributed to the increasing use of stereographs for entertainment as well as for educational and scholarly purposes. The use of the medium predated television and film, although there was still use of the medium in the 1900’s and 1920’s as well. Some companies even continued publishing stereographs into the 1970’s (California Stereograph Collection, MSS-2010-09-18, San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives).
There were many types of photography used to make stereographs, such as daguerreotype (copper plates) and albumen (egg) prints. The majority of stereographs were created using cameras that had two lenses so as to capture two images. The first stereographs made available to the public were published in 1854 by the London Stereoscopic Company. The medium soon spread from England to America. Other prominent photographers and producers of stereographs included Edward Muybridge and B.W. Kilburn (California Stereograph Collection, MSS-2010-09-18, San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives). This collection contains three (3) stereographs by B.W. Kilburn and the Kilburn Brothers of Littleton N.H., One of Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz, one of a florist’s wreath, and one of frost-covered rocks.
Other well-known publishers of stereographs included Keystone and Underwood and Underwood. Both are companies that published stereographs in sets contained in boxes that were made to look like bound books with publication information on the “spine” (California Stereograph Collection, MSS-2010-09-18, San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives). This collection has one such box by Underwood and Underwood containing stereographs of places around the world, people, and images of President Roosevelt on his Western Tour. There is a single (1) stereograph by Keystone in this collection of a Japanese garden.
The majority of this collection is stereographs by George E .Stone, Producer of Educational Motion Pictures and Stereographs. These include color and black and white stereographs from c.1927 and are of Yosemite, Wildflowers, Tidepools, Trees of California, some historic sites in Monterey, and two boxes of Stone’s series on Western Birds. The rest of the stereographs in this collection are by various publishers such as Wagstaff, Underwood, Strohmeyer and Wyman, J.F. Jarvis and others. There are also three (3) stereographs of places in or around Santa Cruz taken by local photographers. One is by C.R. Bushnell and is dated 7/4/1889 of a girl’s bicycle brigade on Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, the other is by Morris of Pacific Avenue and shows a horse and cart, and the third is of a wagon near Parsons Ranch, Scotts Valley c.1912. The rest of the stereographs in this collection date from 1889-1927.
