Stereographs
odd: label: Reorganization Notes
content: Originally, these stereographs were interfiled with other materials in the Warshaw Collection. It was felt that this arrangement could be damaging to the stereographs and appeared in many instances to be haphazard. Therefore, in 1991 they were rehoused to ensure their preservation, and reorganized to better facilitate their use as research tools. Whenever possible, categories from the primary Warshaw materials have been retained; however, new categories which matched typical or traditional stereograph subject arrangement were added. This method created some overlap among categories, so it is suggested that a researcher follow "see also" terms within the section descriptions. The stereographs are now organized by topical and geographical categories. Selected photographers have been indexed as well.

It may seem strange that portions of a collection should be removed from their original context, consolidated, and separated from the rest of the collection, but this was done to make the Warshaw stereographs more accessible to photographic historians and others interested primarily in documentary photographic evidence, rather than advertising imagery, trade literature, and text materials. Also, storage of the stereographs in standard document boxes posed a hazard to the material because of their size and form, especially prints on curved or "warped" mounts, which might be crushed or mishandled if filed with other items in disparate formats and sizes. Jennifer Songster-Burnett located, organized, and catalogued the majority of these stereographs as an internship project in spring 1991. The prior association of these images with Warshaw Collection topical categories was retained to ensure their continued availability to users of the Business Ephemera Vertical Files. Often cross- reference copies have been placed in the Business Ephemera boxes to indicate specific images which were refiled, and many cards are arranged according to the original category titles. A researcher with citations to stereographs in their original locations can relocate them easily in the parallel arrangement of the stereographs.

The consolidation of stereographs from all categories should enhance their utility for scholars seeking specifically photographic documentation of objects, places, and events. In the original vertical files, the stereographs' multiple topical and thematic associations were often obscured. A stereograph from the "Insurance" category, for example, depicts an architecturally distinguished insurance company building in Milwaukee, but the architectural historian might not search that category for views of buildings: among the stereographs, even the accidental or serendipitous finding of this image will be faster and easier. The project also facilitated more detailed cataloguing of these images, with considerable cross- referencing and subject descriptors in the automated database (SIRIS): for example, the insurance building, the only item in the "Insurance" category of the stereographs subdivision, has been cross-referenced under architectural descriptors, and can be accessed in this manner as well.
name: label: Series Creator
content: Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
setName: label: See more items in
content: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
bioghist: label: Historical
content: A stereograph consists of two nearly identical images, generally photographs, exposed as a rule simultaneously and from a distance separation of approximately two-and-one-half inches, mounted on a card and viewed, with or without the aid of a binocular viewer, to produce the simulation of three dimensions. The subject of the stereograph and its waves of popularity in the United States and elsewhere is treated in a number of books, but authoritatively and exhaustively in William Culp Darrah's monumental book, The World of the Stereograph.(1) Stereographs were manufactured and distributed commercially in large quantities by publishers for mass markets as objects of both entertainment and education, but they were also produced in smaller quantities for specialized markets. The stereograph was the dominant form of photography in the nineteenth century. Its immense popularity lasted approximately until the cinema and halftone-illustrated print media sent it into eclipse after World War I..(2)

(1)William C. Darrah's The World of the Stereograph (self-published, 1977), the most authoritative reference in stereography but long out of print, is again available, in a reprint edition issued by J. Richiuso of Land Yacht Press, Nashville, 1998.

(2)Melody D. Davis, "An essential reprint in stereography (William C. Darrah's The World of the Stereograph)," Art Journal, Fall 1998.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1865-1931
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0060.S02, Subseries 2.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: Processed by: Jennifer Songster and David Haberstich, 1991, revised 2002

Revised: December 27, 2002
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Over two thousand stereographs (or stereoscopic photographs) are among the estimated two million documents and items of business ephemera in the Warshaw Collection. It is likely that Isadore Warshaw collected the stereographs both as examples of business advertising and as pictorial representations of commercial products, historical themes, and other subjects. Many of these stereographs contain advertisements for non-photographic businesses, as well as imprints of photographers' names and studio locations. There is also a substantial minority of items which bear no identification at all.

One group of images deserves particular note: In the section headed "New York-Albany" are approximately 125 stereographs from the Julius Wendt and Wendt Bros. studios located in Albany at the turn of the twentieth century. The subjects include street scenes, Washington Park, the state capitol building, and citizens of the area. Many of the stereographs of people in this group have biographical newspaper clippings affixed to the versos. A large number of stereographs from one studio is significant, and these images provide a fascinating document of Albany and its citizens from 1900 to 1905. Another stereograph of special interest is an advertisement for the stereoscopic photographer T. F. M. White of New Bedford, Mass., which was located in the "photography" category. This view contains text and an image, both of which yield a three-dimensional effect when viewed through a stereoscope. While these examples stand out as highlights of the collection, there are other excellent examples of the form from the 1860s through the early 1900s. Much subject matter is fairly typical of stereographs, including views of Western scenery, railroads, resorts, bridges, and street scenes. The quality of the compositions and the condition of the cards varies widely. Currently there are eleven boxes of images and over one hundred categories, as described in the Container List. More stereographs may be added if they are found elsewhere in the Warshaw Collection, and this inventory will be updated accordingly.

The stereographs are the work of many photographers and publishers from the 1860s to the 1920s; they are primarily American views of American scenes, although there is also a section of foreign views. As mentioned above, they are filed in the stereograph boxes according to their original business ephemera locations, whether in the topical or geographical series. Some categories contain only a single item, others contain many.

The container list of stereographs is controlled at the sub-series level, then by category title; but when there are many items in a category, the more notable images and better-known makers are identified. Most early images are silver albumen and later views are silver gelatin unless otherwise noted; "lithoprints" are photomechanical. The "See also" references indicate related images in other categories.