Evening star., 1942-10-18
Hobbies and Lobbyists
News of Group Meetings and Local
Exhibitions
By Edmond Henderer,

old. True, it was a small and very
inexpensive one, but, it worked, and
furthermore. 1t started the large
collection Mr.. Colvin now possesses
Through the succeeding years he
has gathered both the pictures and
the viewers. ~
Far from being a dead industry,
stereoscopes are still made today.
The principal has been adapted to
modern cameras and various special
devices have been designed to bring
the idea into modern use. Lens
systems may be bought for many
modern cameras to enable them to
take stereographs on conventional
fllm. One manufacturer of very
good cameras put out an extremely
high-priced stereoscope to use with
stereoscopic kodachrome transpar-
encies. Mr.. Colvin has both the
camera and the viewer and the
results are excellent. ~
He also has a special lens for q
larger camera so that he can take
stereograms of about the conven-
tional size.
Stereoscopes of the old-time full
size are still manufactured. Some
are made of wood, almost identical
with those of so years ago, and
some are made of metal through
out. These latter are mainly in
tended for school use.
A type Of stereoscope, intended
for use with pictures taken on 35-
nm. film, is available in the 1--we
and ten"
Mr.. Colvin has examples of all
these types and many more. In
fact, he has some 26 stereoscopes. all
different in some feature, and over
$4,000 stereographs. He has done
quite a bit OF travelling in the past,
and some Of his collection was ac-
quired in other countries. He
has stereoscopes manufactured in
France, England, Scotland and Ger
many as we'll as the United States
Of America.
Apparently religious subjects were
a favorite topic in the 18th century.
The largest group of views in Mr..
Colvin's collection is of Rome, with
the Holy Land close behind. Occa-
sionally unscrupulous dealers took
advantage of this preference. Mr..
Colvin has a picture which was
foisted on the gullible as scene in
the carpenter shop where Jesus had
worked.
The pictures of greatest interest
to Washingtonians would probably
be the early views of Washington.
Fortunately there are many of these.
On the score of a practical use for
stereographs, Mr.. Colvin states that
the largest known collection is in the
possession of major movie studio,
probably for use in making up au-
thentic sets. This collection is re-
puted to contain some 250,00O pic
lures.
There must be a number of other
stereograph collectors in Washing
ton besides Mr.. Colvin. He says
that all stereographs appearing on
the local market are quickly snapped
up. He is in touch with collectors
IN other parts OF the country and
trades with them, but he would
like to know some local collectors.
Any one having any information on
the matter may call Mr.. Colvin at
Woodley 4410.
Although the hobby just described
Is his most unusual one, it is not
Mr.. Colvin's only avoca ton. His
other interests include guns. cam
eras, books and dogs. In this last
field he has raised at least one
champion. But he has asked that
the emphasis Of this article be
placed on the stereoscopes, as he is
very anxious to. meet some other
local collectors in this field. a
The October meeting of the Wash
Ing Ship Model Society was held
one week early for this month only.
at the request of the host, Raymond
F. Henry. The change was made
too late for advance notice here. In
spite of this change the attendance
was quite good.
This group seems to have more
than its fair share of members in the