Sunday, January 29, 2012

Historical stereograms of Arizona online


The New York Public Library has a collection of19th century stereoscopic ("3D") photos online that includes 196 from Arizona. The Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views has over 40,000 items in it. The images include scenery; Native American portraits, dances, and ruins; mines; cacti; and some 'city' shots.

[Right, stereoscopic image of the Grand Canyon, date unknown. Catalog Call Number MFY Dennis Coll 88-F122; Digital ID: G88F122_011F; Record ID: 751658]

The New York Public Library has also developed a fun online app that turns these stereoscopic images into animated GIFs. Stereogranimator creates fantastic 3D effects that wiggle back and forth to maintain the illusion. Watching a page full of them is a bit disconcerting. So far, they have created more than 11,500 of them from the original stereographs. Check out "The sinuous Colarado, yellow as the Tiber" - north from Bissell's Point. c1902-1903" below.

GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator - view more at http://stereo.nypl.org/gallery/index
GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator

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