Ian Ference's blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
The Grotte de la Devèze in Courniou, France, known in English as the The Glass Spinner's Palace, was photographed and released by Bruguiere in the late 1940s - near the end of the era of glass-plate diapositives. I obtained a near-pristine copy the other day and thought I'd share.
Miraculously, the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station survived the great fire of 1875 due to a German immigrant fireman. Happily, local stereographic photo outfit Lovejoy & Foster produced a fantastic, painterly view of the great steam-powered pumping station within 4 years later.
In additional to his usual fare - fancy estates, towns, zoos, and so on - VistaScreen's photographer Stanley Long dabbled in artistic figure studies. Largely unadvertised for obvious reasons - this was 1950s Britain after all - few of these sets are floating around. Here's the first in the Miss Continentale series.
In terms of industry, Pittsburgh is usually identified with steel - hence one of its nicknames, "The Steel City". At the turn of the century, the city was one of the manufacturing capitals of the nation, mostly built on the backbone of Andrew Carnegie's US Steel, and other steel and metal industries. The steel industry …
Continue reading "1903: Pittsburgh Plate Glass in Tarentum, Pennsylvania"
In 1934, Tru Vue published "New York's Chinatown", which starts with a little racist poetry and goes on to show some random street scenes, etc, as well as making it look dangerous and exotic. The 3D is well executed for early Tru Vue - the racism, not so much. Also included, a short explanation on how a Tru Vue filmstrip was put together.
An introduction to the Edinburgh Stereoscopic Atlas of Anatomy, as well as an explanation for my 4 month hiatus from the blog.
Happy New Year! And what better way to celebrate than with a burlesque performance? Sally Rand's Fan Dance is credited by many as being the main attraction at the 1933 Century of Progress - despite its having gotten her arrested numerous times. See it here in 3D via an early filmstrip from Tru Vue, taken at the Chicago World's Fair!
