Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!
Have you viewed slides through a stereoscope/stereopticon? Young visitors at the museum are intrigued by the two old-time slide viewers on display and also the View Master with its round disks to view.
A stereoscope (also referred to as a stereopticon or stereo viewer) is an optical instrument with two eyepieces used to give a three-dimensional effect to two photographs of the same scene that are taken from slightly different angles. They became popular sources of entertainment during the Victorian era and were prized possessions. The two photographs, side by side, are placed on a thin cardboard-like
material with one picture for the left eye and one for the right eye. When viewed through the special lens, the two flat images appear as one three-dimensional image.
Tour guides at the museum show the children (also young adults and older visitors) one of the many slides in the collection and ask “How many pictures do you see? When they answer “two”, it is pointed out that they are “just alike.” Then the slide is placed in the holder and the child is handed the stereopticon and asked how many pictures “do you see?” The answer is most often “one” and the answer usually comes with a smile!
The children also enjoy looking at one of the reels for the View-Master found in a basket in the children’s area of the museum. The reels are round thin cardboard disks which have seven pairs of identical color photographs located opposite each other on the reel. The View-Master became popular in the 1930’s-1940’s after Kodachrome color film came into use. View-Master reels cover many topics from tourist attractions and city views to common topics (ex. Women in long dresses doing laundry in vintage wooden washing machines with hand-crank wringers). Later reels were directed more to children with cartoons etc.
Tru-Vue came along later and is a smaller viewer with an art deco look. Some were made of bakelite and came in several colors. Each Tru-Vue would take a small filmstrip or film card which was threaded through the viewer. The museum has one of these Tru-Vues and several of the tiny filmstrips. The filmstrips have children’s stories, travel and more.
All three of these viewers were popular and found in many homes.
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