History in three dimensions — stereo photographs
During the second half of the 20th century, when stereo was mentioned, all we thought of was music. And what a sensory surprise it had been in 1958 — two groups of sounds coming off records, doubling our aural delight. Within four years we had Ian and Sylvia on separate channels or Bob Dylan on right channel, his guitar over on the left! So, imagine the astonishment of people in the middle of the 19th century when an earlier form of stereo caught the public’s fancy by amplifying their visual excitement.
Not long after Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre paved the way for practical photography in the early 1830s, the fundamentals of binocular vision were not only understood but had been applied to photography by Sir Charles Wheatstone. Our eyes each see a slightly different view which our minds then meld into a three-dimensional image. By 1840, the same principle was harnessed to photography. Experimenters took two almost identical photographs but moved the camera a few inches to the left or right. When seen through a special viewer, the resulting combined image created lifelike, “reach-out-and-touch” scenes. Wheatstone invented the word
stereograph (two Greek words meaning “solid” and “I look at”) but over time stereo became the prefix for compounds such as stereoscopy and stereo view; a stereoscope was invented to view stereocards. The floodgates opened in 1851 and almost a century of optical stereo-mania began during that year’s International Exhibition in London, England. Inexpensive viewers and stereocards of the exhibition’s many features caught on with the public.
Soon, almost all middle- and upper-class homes had a viewer with an album of stereo views.
Do-it-yourselfer nerds bought special twin-lens cameras to produce their own stereocards. Manufacturers sent photographers around the world to bring back stunning three-dimensional views of natural wonders such as Niagara Falls, the Pyramids, and exotic Pacific islands. The American Civil War, Boer War and First World War fuelled the craze along with disasters such as the San Francisco earthquake. These, plus everyday industrial and commercial scenes, were all captured on billions of 7-by-3½inch stereocards. The largest publishers were B.W. Kilburn, Keystone, Underwood & Underwood, William Notman and D. Appleton. After the First World War, the passion for stereo views waned and was almost dead by the time of the Second.
That’s a very casual overview of stereography but today Flash from the Past looks at local stereocards.
Wendell B. Sherk, about whom Flash has previously written, produced stereocards in Waterloo at the turn of the century. His Canadian Stereoscopic View Company catalogue featured many local and national topics. The Canadian View Company of Galt also published local scenes but the actual photographer remains a mystery. The previously mentioned large international firms published very few local scenes.
Findlay Weaver operated a Berlin stationery shop and also published postcards. In 1909, he issued a set of 17 local, threedimensional stereo views in the standard postcard size of 5½ by 3½ inches. Among them were King Street, Victoria Park, important buildings, homes and factories.
The smaller format of Weaver’s stereo postcards made them awkward to use in regular stereoscopes; thus few sold and they are very rare.
The scene from the mill race at the Snider mill in St. Jacobs was produced by the Canada View Company, which may or may not be the same company as the previously mentioned Canadian View Company from Galt. Does anyone still canoe those tranquil St. Jacobs waters?
Wendell Sherk carefully positioned his camera, and his stereocard of Waterloo Park’s old schoolhouse produces a vivid three-dimensional view. One of Weaver’s 1909 stereo postcards makes King East in Berlin come alive. From the corner of King and Benton, the camera looks toward the long three-storey American Hotel block just to the right of the main pole. King Street had to wait another year before mud was replaced by pavement.
There has been some talk about starting a local stereo view collectors club. I’d like to hear from anyone who would be interested or who has local stereocards.
The Flash from the Past feature on the old schoolhouse is at www.therecord.com.