history Archives

9 July 20199 July 2019

Tru-Vue Advertising: The Academy of the Visitation at Villa de Chantal, Series I

It's not surprising that the newly-formed Tru-Vue company of Rock Island, Illinois decided to try their hand in the advertising market. Nor is it surprising that they chose a local institution for one of their first advertising filmstrips. What is surprising is that this early subject was a girls' Catholic school run by the Salesian Sisters - and that the stereo photography is actually pretty darn good, considering!

6 July 20197 July 2019

3D Photos of Brooklyn in 1933 – Series 2

1933 in the finest borough of the greatest city in America is brought to life, in sepia-toned 3D in a rare second strip from Tru Vue. See the Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, the industry on the Gowanus Canal, the Red Hook Grain Terminal - and more - all in stereo pairs & anaglyphic 3D!

11 June 2019

“La Délivrance”, part of the Nantes Memorial to the War Dead, in 1927

"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.

3 June 20193 June 2019

One-shot #27: Interior of the Chicago Water Works Pumping Engine House in 1875

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.

31 December 20185 June 2019

3D Photos of Chicago’s Century of Progress World’s Fair – Part 1

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.

24 December 201831 December 2018

Depression-Era Santa: “The Night Before Christmas”

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.

22 December 201831 July 2019

3D Photos of County Cork in the 1950s

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".

21 December 201820 July 2019

Raumbild Paris 1937: Introduction, ten images, and English text

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.

20 December 2018

1934 Colombia in 3D – by STEAMSHIP!

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!

17 December 20186 July 2019

3D Photos of Brooklyn in 1933 – Series 1

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!