A spatial interface to twenty essays on the objects and themes of the exhibit as well as the objects and landmarks
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The important landmarks that stood at this important Broadway intersection over time and by site
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A look at the technical processes along with the men and women who made all these cultural commodities in New York
More informationStereoscopic viewer
American, unknown maker
Designed by Oliver Wendell Holmes and Joseph Bates
20th century
Aluminum, wood
13 × 7 × 8 in. (33 × 17.8 × 20.3 cm)
Inscription: Monarch
Library, Bard Graduate Center
Stereoviews used the precise authenticity of photography to immerse people in images as never before. The stereoscope apparatus directs each eye to see only its designated picture, thus re-creating human binocular vision. The brain combines the two images into a three-dimensional scene, and the person is fooled into viewing it as the real thing. Domestic collections of famous cities, sites, and events became very popular, providing a social activity for those who gathered in the parlor and offering the impression of traveling the globe in the comfort of one’s own home.
— Virginia Spofford
