SELF AND THE WORLD: EXPERIENCING PHOTOGRAPHY IN 19TH-CENTURY NORWALK

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STEREOGRAPHS

Before film or television, stereographs were a form of popular entertainment and an early three-dimensional technology. The two lenses of a stereograph camera are about as far apart as human eyes and therefore take slightly different views of the same scene. When viewed through a stereo viewer, the images combine to appear three dimensional.

Although there were stereoscopic daguerreotypes, not until photographs were reproduced on a mass scale did stereo cards and viewers enter most middle class homes.

Woman and man posing for cabinet card with stereoscope
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Before the development of color photography, studios would paint prints by hand.

Beard Residence, Flax Hill, no date | Albumen print, one hand tinted | E. T. Whitney | St-Ph 5592 | City of Norwalk

People could obtain sets of cards that told funny stories like Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook (shown below), or Sedate College Girls at School. Stereocards could transport viewers to faraway places, show them current events, or teach them through museum tours.

Stereocard viewers visually block off the outside world. One humorous stereocard from the 1860s plays on how absorbing stereograph viewing was – a stereocard salesman steals a kiss from a man’s wife as he looks at the latest views (see slideshow below).
19th Century Stereoscope
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The Fresh View Agent Soliciting, c.1900 | Albumen Print | 1983.1571.0001 | Eastman Museum, Rochester NY
Woman using stereoscope | Albumen Print | Library of Congress
Norwalk Bridge, from Fort Point c.1869 | Views on the Line of the New York and New Haven Rail Road, No. 3758 | Whitney, Beckwith and Paradise, Photographer
Norwalk Harbor and Steam Boat Dock | Albumen Print | Whitney, Beckwith & Paradice | E. & H.T. Anthony, publisher | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F79 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Norwalk Harbor | Albumen Print | E. T. Whitney | PH-5602 | Norwalk Public Library History Room
Winslow Property, Westport | Albumen Print | Whitney and Beckwith, 1875 | E. & H.T. Anthony, publisher | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F60 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Greenwich Harbor View from Depot | Albumen Print | Whitney, Beckwith & Paradice | E. & H.T. Anthony, publisher | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F79 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
State Capitol, Hartford 1880 | Albumen Print | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F71 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Mark Twain residence, Hartford | Albumen Print | R. S. De Lamater, 1880 | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F72 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
The Harbor, New London 1875 | Albumen Print | Whitney and Beckwith | E. & H.T. Anthony, publisher | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F78 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
P.T. Barnum Residence, Bridgeport 1875 | Albumen Print | German and American Photograph Gallery, publisher | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F72 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Neptune Club members of Norwalk | Albumen Print | C. H. Shute & Son, Edgartown, Mass. | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F259 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Silk Factory, Manchester, Conn. | Albumen Print | Keystone View Company | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F70 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Man and Horse, Westport | Albumen Print | E. & H.T. Anthony, publisher, 1865 | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F60 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
5 Main Street, Norwalk | Albumen Print | Joseph Langley | FIC 07.42 | Norwalk Public Library History Room
E.T. Whitney and family, 1861 | Albumen Print | E. T. Whitney, Norwalk | Norwalk Public Library History Room
Bridgeport Lighthouse, 1875 | Albumen Print | Edward C. Betts | MFY Dennis Coll 90-F67 | New York Public Library Digital Collection
Norwalk Lock Company | Albumen Print | E. T. Whitney, Norwalk | ST-PH-3008 | Norwalk Public Library History Room

~ Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook ~

1. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
1. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
2. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
2. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
3. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
3. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
4. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
4. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
5. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
5. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
6. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
6. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
7. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
7. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
8. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
8. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
9. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
9. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
10. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
10. Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed’s New French Cook | Albumen print | Underwood & Underwood, publisher | City of Norwalk
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