Ian Ference's blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
The Century of Progress World's Fair - held in Chicago in 1933 and again in 1934 - was among the most successful World's Fairs of all time, actually turning a profit. It was also the launch-pad for Tru Vue's toy-format 3D filmstrip system, which documented the Fair over 8 different filmstrips. This is the first one.
With most sets of stereographic images, you can get a sense of what's going on from the captions, action, provenance - all sorts of things. Here, I'm more or less at a loss - but the stereoviews are pretty darn cool!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I present the Carnaval de Nice from 1933, from a fantastic set of glass positive slides in my collection. I hope that these pictures of joy, jubilation, and celebration will bring happiness to my readers, regardless of which (if any) holidays they are celebrating around this time of year - and that they will transform these feelings into kindnesses towards others. Because that's truly in the spirit of any joyous celebration, is it not?
VistaScreen had the opportunity to create some historically interesting stereoviews when they finally sent one of their photographers out of the United Kingdom - and down to Southern Ireland. Sadly, but predictably, they opted instead to show some rather standard (if well-taken) views of some rather standard tourist destinations in the "rebel county".
Colombia is a beautiful country that can be visited via Colombian Steamship Lines! This Tru Vue filmstrip features 3D photography of Colombia: the ruins of a fort, passengers disembarking from a steamship, a man selling a monkey, the home of the President of Colombian Steamship Lines, a torture house of the Spanish Inquisition, and more. Steamships!
1933 in the finest borough of the greatest city in America is brought to life, in sepia-toned 3D in a rare strip from Tru Vue. See the Williamsburg Bank Building without neighboring skyscrapers; the first Brooklyn Public Library's original main branch building; an elevated train line through the center of the borough - and more - all in stereo pairs & anaglyphic 3D!
Since someone recently told me that it was "impossible" to properly digitize Tru Vue 3D photographic reels, I went ahead and digitized #809, "Petrified Forest and Painted Desert" - and they actually turned out pretty great! Here are all 14 images as stereo pairs & anaglyphs.
