Skip to content

The Museum will close at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13 for an event.

Historical Photography of the American West in 3-D

 

2005.010
“Rough Rider” Cowboys Saluting President McKinley Reception at Los Angeles, California, 1901 Underwood & Underwood 2005.010

The 30 images in this virtual exhibit were created from stereographs in the collection of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center. The original stereo photographs were manipulated using the Adobe Photoshop program to create anaglyphs, images that, when seen with red/blue “3-D” glasses, allow the viewer to see the photographs as three-dimensional.

The original stereo photographs, affixed to a stiff backing 7 inches wide and 3½ to 4½ inches high, are seen as three-dimensional when viewed with a stereo viewer. Stereograph images are typically black & white or sepia in color, not the red/blue coloring of the anaglyphs in the exhibit. Viewmaster reels and viewers, which are still made today, are based on the same principle. However, Viewmaster images differ because they are transparent, in full color, and much smaller than the images used with a stereograph viewer.

Stereographs are NOT two identical images printed side-by-side. A special stereographic camera has two lenses with the center of the lenses placed approximately 2½ inches apart (the distance between the eyes of a typical adult) that takes two simultaneous photographs. When the printed photographs were placed on a stereograph card with the center of the images the same distance apart, the three-dimensionality of the original scene is recreated when seen through a stereo viewer.

Brief History of Stereographs

The earliest stereographs were daguerreotypes, photographic images recorded on sensitized sheets of silver-plated copper. These were not ideal for stereoscopic use because each image was unique with no possibility of reproduction and the shiny surface was difficult to view. As various metal-, glass-, and paper-based photographic printing processes were developed, they were adapted to stereographic use with varying degrees of success. Paper-based photographic printing was first used in 1852 and was by far the dominant method for producing stereographs.

stereoviewereyes.jpgStereoscopic viewers also went through an evolution, beginning in 1850 with Sir William Brewster’s invention of the lenticular stereoscope. This tabletop device was a closed box, which could be opened on the sides to admit light, with two adjustable lenses. Other inventions included viewers that could hold up to 200 stereographs on an endless belt, similar to CD and DVD jukeboxes in use today. Oliver Wendell Holmes invented the familiar handheld stereoscopic viewer; it was marketed and improved by his friend Joseph L. Bates. Holmes did much to encourage the popularity of stereographs, writing two enthusiastic essays on the subject for Atlantic Monthly, noting especially their educational possibilities.

The London Stereoscopic Company was one of the earliest mass-producers of stereographs, and by 1858 had amassed a list of more than 100,000 titles. Although there were other American manufacturers, the primary United States mass-producers were Underwood & Underwood, Keystone View Company, and H. C. White. These companies would have more than 10,000 titles in print at any given time. At the turn of the 20th century, the mass-producers were selling the cards at the rate of six for one dollar when purchased in lots of a dozen or more at a time. Examples of Underwood & Underwood and Keystone cards are featured in this virtual exhibit. In keeping with the educational function promoted by stereograph manufacturers, some mass-produced cards featured text on the reverse that provided background or commentary about the scene depicted. The text can also provide interesting insights into the prejudices and concerns of the era in which they were written.

The London Stereoscopic Company was one of the earliest mass-producers of stereographs, and by 1858 had amassed a list of more than 100,000 titles. Although there were other American manufacturers, the primary United States mass-producers were Underwood & Underwood, Keystone View Company, and H. C. White. These companies would have more than 10,000 titles in print at any given time. At the turn of the 20th century, the mass-producers were selling the cards at the rate of six for one dollar when purchased in lots of a dozen or more at a time. Examples of Underwood & Underwood and Keystone cards are featured in this virtual exhibit. In keeping with the educational function promoted by stereograph manufacturers, some mass-produced cards featured text on the reverse that provided background or commentary about the scene depicted. The text can also provide interesting insights into the prejudices and concerns of the era in which they were written.

In the early 1880s, the half tone or lithographic printing process became commercially viable, and this allowed stereographic images, many of which were originally published in true photographic editions, to be printed very inexpensively. These half tone stereographs, both multicolored and monochromatic, were produced to be sold very inexpensively, sometimes as little as three-cents per card. Sears Roebuck Company and Montgomery Ward Company both sold inexpensive lithographic stereo cards to mail order customers.

Smaller companies and individual photographers in Europe and the United States also got into the stereograph business. Local stereographic publishers were generally one of four types: stereographic specialists who focused on local subjects, resort photographers that limited their work to the tourist trade, studio photographers who produced stereographs as a sideline, and opportunists who produced a few views of an unusual event like a train wreck to be sold as souvenirs and then often resold the negative to a large-volume publisher. The card stock, label, and imprint used differed between publishers and this allows an individual card to be related to others produced by the same publisher.

stereobox.jpgThematic series and boxed sets were another way stereographs were sold. For example, series documenting World War I, the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and exotic travel destinations such as Japan and the Middle East were popular with stereo card purchasers. The Dickinson Research Center owns a boxed set of 100 multicolored lithographic stereographs called the “Sportsman’s Series,” probably originally sold by the Montgomery Ward Company. This series includes a variety of hunting and fishing views, but also, unaccountably, a number of American Indian scenes.

Stereographs were widely popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Although one of the primary selling points was always their educational content, perhaps the best way to think about stereographs is as the television or DVD of their era. In a time when few people traveled for pleasure, one of the main reasons people collected stereographs was to serve as a relatively inexpensive way to “travel” without ever leaving home. Other stereo card collectors might focus on images of trains, animals, or lighthouses, similar to the way someone today might collect science fiction or western films on DVD.

After 1920, the Keystone View Company was the only major stereograph publisher left in the world. As other companies ceased production Keystone would purchase their negatives and would sometimes issue them under their own name. For example, both Underwood & Underwood and Keystone issued some of the same views. Keystone ceased regular production in 1939, but continued to manufacture views for the optometric trade. Individual cards could still be ordered from Keystone as late as 1970.

Stereographs in the West

stereocard.jpgDaguerreotypists were active in Texas and California in the early 1850s, but San Francisco photographer C. E. Watkins probably created the first Western stereographs when he took more than a 1000 views of Yosemite and the giant sequoias sometime before 1865. Some of the major Western regional photographers who also took stereo views included Watkins and Thomas Houseworth of California, Charles W. Carter and Charles R. Savage of Utah, and Charles Weitfle of Colorado. This exhibit includes a Charles Savage stereograph of a Ute family. Other major sources of stereographs of the western United States and its peoples included photographers for government survey expeditions and railroads. The exhibit includes examples of both. John K. Hillers’ stereograph “Chu-ar-ru-um-peak Shooting a Rabbit” was taken on the John Wesley Powell’s Survey of the Colorado River, and Northern Pacific Railroad photographer F. Jay Haynes shot the stereograph “One Days Hunt in Dakota.” Mass-producers Underwood & Underwood and the Keystone View Company were also major players in the production of Western-themed stereographs.

Cowboys

2002.003a.jpg 2002.003.jpg
The Round-up – On Paloduro Ranch, Paloduro, Texas, circa 1900.
Keystone View Company
2002.003
2002.018a.jpg 2002.018.jpg
Cowboy, Broncho Corral and Camps
Banks of the Yellowstone, Montana, circa 1900.

Keystone View Company
2002.018
2003.137a.jpg 2003.137.jpg
Cowboy Camp on the Western Prairies, circa 1900.
Keystone View Company
2003.137
2003.167 2003.167
Cowboys – Branding the Calves. A Busy Day on the Paloduro Ranch
Paloduro, Texas, circa 1900.

Keystone View Company
2003.167
2004.074 2004.074
Thrown! Cowboy and Horse Holding a Lassoed Cow, Kansas, circa 1920.
Keystone View Company
2004.074

Frontier Military

2003.021.04 2003.021.04
Native Americans and soldiers at Fort Meade, SD, circa 1890.
Photographer unknown
2003.021.04
2003.021.08 2003.021.08
Field tent at Fort Meade, SD, circa 1890.
Photographer unknown
2003.021.08
2003.021.09 2003.021.09
B Troop at Volley Firing, Fort Meade, SD, circa 1890.
Photographer unknown
2003.021.09
2004.048 2004.048
Troop A, Ninth U. S. Cavalry – Famous Indian Fighters, 1898.
Strohmeyer & Wyman, Publishers
2004.048
2004.235a 2004.235.jpg
Ninth U. S. Cavalry – Dismount!, 1898.
Strohmeyer & Wyman, Publishers
2004.235

Hunting

2001.024a 2001.024
One Day’s Hunt in Dakota, circa 1880.
F. Jay Haynes
2001.024
2004.108.16a 2004.108.16
Moose head and hunting camp, circa 1900.
Photographer unknown
2004.108.16
2004.223a 2004.223
“Look here, old man, where the bullet struck – To down an elk with one shot is pretty good luck.”
Elk Hunt, Montana, U.S.A., 1904.

Keystone View Company
2004.223
2004.323a 2004.323
Homeward Bound – An Old Hunter and Daughters, in the [Big Horn] Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A., 1904.
Underwood & Underwood
2004.323
2005.134a 2005.134
Luck Days in the Bad Lands, 1903.
T. W. Ingersoll
2005.134

Native Americans

2003.205a 2003.205
Chu-ar-ru-um-peak Shooting a Rabbit, circa 1875.
John K. Hillers
2003.205
2003.277.2a 2003.277.2
Shee-zah-nan-tan, Jicarilla Apache Brave in characteristic costume, Northern New Mexico, 1874.
T. H. O’Sullivan
2003.277.2
2004.017a 2004.017
Ute Family, circa 1875.
Charles R. Savage
2004.017
2005.043.04a 2005.043.4.jpg
Indian Camp Fire Scene, Fort Marion, Florida, circa 1875.
Wilson & Havens
2005.043.4
2005.093a.jpg 2005.093.jpg
Duncan McDonald and Wife, circa 1890.
[Salish Indian husband and wife on horseback in front of tipis]

Photographer unknown
2005.093

Wild West Shows and Rodeo

2003.131.1a.jpg 2003.131.1.jpg
“Red-Skins” & Cowboys [Wild West show], 1889.
Underwood & Underwood
2003.131.1
2003.131.1.jpg 2003.131.2
Indian Buffalo Hunt in the Wild West Show
Jamestown Exposition [101 Ranch], 1907.

Keystone View Company
2003.131.2
2003.171.2a.jpg 2003.171.2.jpg
Broncho Riding Contest at A Century of Progress Rodeo-A Bad One Tries the “Corkscrew,” 1933.
Keystone View Company
2003.171.2
2003.195a.jpg 2003.195.jpg
Miss Hicock, the Champion Equestrienne of the World, 1889.
Underwood & Underwood
2003.195
2003.236.1a 2003.237.1.jpg
Cowboy saddling steer for rodeo, circa 1925.
K. P. Foote
2003.237.1

Potpourri

2003.021.02a 2003.021.02.jpg
View on F.E. & M.V. R.R. Above Central City, SD, circa 1890.
Photographer unknown
2003.021.02
2003.168a.jpg 2003.168.jpg
President Roosevelt’s Choicest Recreation – Amid Nature’s Grandeur – On Glacier Point, circa 1903.
Keystone View Company
2003.168
2004.027.1a 2004.027.1.jpg
A Half Mile of Pork, Armour’s Great Packing House,
Chicago, U.S.A., 1894.

Strohmeyer & Wyman, Publishers
2004.027.1
2004.035.1a 2004.035.1.jpg
Tom Mix and movie crew at lunch, circa 1925.
Photographer unknown
2004.035.1
2005.010a.jpg 2005.010.jpg
“Rough Rider” Cowboys Saluting President McKinley
Reception at Los Angeles, California, 1901.

Underwood & Underwood
2005.010

Stay Connected

Sign up for our e-newsletter