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The stereograph brought the world to everyone and great works of art, famous places, the likenesses of authors, politicians and poets became familiar to all. "Parlor travel" democratized the world and created the educated citizen. My interest in stereo photography came about through discovering that I had a great-great-granduncle who was a stereo photographer in addition to operating a portrait gallery in the nineteenth-century. Membership in the NSA has helped place into perspective the work, life, and career of my great-great-granduncle J. G. Mangold, who boasted he was "The Largest Publisher of Views in the State" (of Florida). Ironically, for Victorians the stereograph view functioned in much the same way the web does today. It brings the world into our homes the way the stereo card brought far away peoples and places into the Victorian parlors. The National Stereoscopic Association is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of stereoscopic photography. The NSA is an active group that encourages interest in stereo photography of all kinds past, present and future.
One of the most striking parallels to nineteenth-century society is the Web. It embodies both the values of "parlor-travel" And the popularity of Virtual Reality echoes the interest in stereograph.
Why is the study of stereo photography important? Because it gives the historian a clear and unfiltered view of the past. Not only is an image recorded but an accurate dimensional image is made from which measurements can be taken. It's possible to see things as they truly were and tell how objects relate to one another in the real world. The non-stereo image presents a flat image of the real world projected onto a salt surface much like painting had before the coming of photography.
The stereograph is also has been much neglected by astute photography historians who in their haste to recognize photographers or artistic merit overlooked the importance of images to society. They viewed the history of photography as a history of art-photography. This bias meant that most of photography, from its beginnings in the 1830s to the first true art-photography movements in the early 20th century was not worthy of attention. Although stereo photography helped shape nineteenth-century society and technology, it did not produce the kind of images that are generally displayed din art museums. Indeed, art historians and curators of museums of art were late to even recognize photography as an art form worthy of exhibition. Replaced by the post card, the freedom of movement afforded by the automobile, photographs printed in newspapers and ultimately motion pictures and television, and shunned by photography historians, the stereo photograph fell from grace. I believe there was an essential prejudice among art-photographers and their patrons against the stereograph because the image required a viewing device to be seen. And perhaps that the dimensionality of the image was a novelty without any important artistic significance. Perhaps it was that a flat image fit their expectation of what art was to previous generations to whom the only image worthy of being called artistic was the painting. It seems to me that most of these arguments are spurious and call into question the method or medium and not the art. I think if critics were to take time to view stereo graphs and a stereophtographer of artistic merit came along the judgment on the stereo image would be different. Just as the normal photograph has the ability to flatten and abstract, the stereophotograph has the ability to produce sculptural images revealing hidden structure or form and to immerse the viewer in a intensified reality. There is nothing standing in the way of a talented stereo photographer who can use the dimensionality of the medium for artistic expression instead of mere novelty. Such a person should enjoy great success if we are only to look.
The stereograph card allowed the armchair adventurer to visit foreign lands. The immersive quality of the three-dimensional viewing experience has the same appeal then as now. As computers become more powerful, virtual reality may become a reality of everyday life as the stereo image was for the Victorian collector. The stereographic view was touted as a great educational tool and remedy. Sets of stereocards with viewer were found in many classrooms as are computers today. Much of the knowledge about the world we take for granted as being "natural" to the educated citizen was learned through stereogrpah and carte de visite images. The ordinary citizen or child attending school was for the first time in history introduced to the world's great works of art, architecture and became familiar with the likenesses of authors, poets and politicians.
Steamers were a favorite subject of photographers, partly because a good living could be made from making keepsake views for the boarding passengers on their return and because steamers made an interesting subject to add to their trade list of views. These views are today among the most popular collectibles. Often, small steam launches are seen in these photographs taking passengers on excursions or out to larger vessels. The Lake George steamers were some of the largest ever constructed, almost floating cities.
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