Vintage Thingie Thursday

This is one of my favorite collectibles that I am sharing with you today. It is a stereoscope and stereo cards from the turn of the century.

A tidbit of history for you: At one time the stereoscope and view cards were found in every American home. From 1850 until World War I, the stereoscope allowed our forefathers to visit every corner of America and the world. It provides us with a three dimensional historical record of those 70 years.
The first stereoscope viewer was created in 1833 by Sir Charles Wheatstone a British inventor. In 1859, Oliver Wendell Holmes developed a compact, hand-held viewer and Joseph L. Bates of Boston made improvements and manufactured them. With advances in photography a new industry and form of entertainment was created. Del Phillips-National Stereoscopic Association Member

Stereo pictures are taken by means of a camera with two lenses. This provides two separate pictures 2.5 inches apart, about the distance between the eyes. Although the pictures appear the same, they are not. When looked at in a viewer, which has prismatic lenses, your eyes will blend the two views into one and the brain perceives it in three dimensions the same as normal vision. Del Phillips

This is my absolute favorite stereo card and quite a piece of Black Americana. The caption under the picture reads: "Dars ben tree two times, two tree times, and one Lawd kno how ma' times."
I count 18 children in the picture! What a family!!

Hope you have enjoyed my vintage selection today. If you would like to see more vintage offerings, just click on the VTT button on the sidebar to go to Suzanne's blog to see who is participating today.