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Parlor Illusions: Stereoscopic Views of Sub-Saharan Africa

From its beginnings as a commercial medium in the 1850s to its virtual disappearance in the 1930s, the stereograph was, foremost, a means of reproducing the world and bringing it into the parlors—and, later, the schools and libraries—of the growing middle class of Europe and the Americas. Before the advent of the halftone allowed books and magazines to employ photographic illustrations on a wide scale, stereographs of Grand Tour destinations and other sites of historic or natural note were printed and sold by the thousands. Often, especially after the turn of the century, images were accompanied by text that gave customers direction on interpreting what they saw. These texts were printed on the reverse side of stereograph cards or in accompanying books; catalogs for Underwood & Underwood boasted that this text was written by “writers who are authorities on the subjects or countries visited” (Underwood & Underwood 1909:10). In some cases these “authorities” were named, but not in the case of the 1909 Africa tour. As perfected by later companies, particularly in the United States, stereographic tour sets (sometimes 100 views or more) were not merely a substitute for actual, physical travel, purveyors assured customers; they were its equal or better. The “guides” were of impeccable credentials; there were no distractions, no time constraints, none of the physical exhaustion or ailments of travel. “The Underwood Travel System is largely mental,” one early 1900s stereographic view catalog explained.