Ian Ference's blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
"La Délivrance", the statue that was at the center of the Nantes Memorial to the War Dead, was also at the center of a lot of controversy. Placed in July of 1927, it was torn down by far-right wing vandals - not to be restored for 91 years, on the Armistice Centenary.
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.
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.
Unlike our previous "Christmas present" from Tru Vue, this 1933 filmstrip is not a creepy, low-budget romp through a garage and then a weird scene in a little girl's darkened living room. Rather, it is a fairly interesting peek into messaging for kids during the Great Depression, with MUCH higher production value.
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".
Probably the best repository for stereoscopic photography of the Exposition Internationale Paris 1937 is a book published late in the year - with stereoviews by notorious Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, and some text that just drips with propaganda. This post takes a first look at this Raumbild album, and the context and subtext surrounding it.
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!
