Stereoviewer on the Web

The Stereoviewer / Stereoscope was invented in 1838 and became popular when Oliver Wendell Holmes created his version in 1881. It is an early example of 3-D picture viewing. Two pictures were taken from slightly different viewpoints (the view from the left and right eyes) and placed next to each other on a card. The viewer merges these two pictures into a single 3-D image. We had one with several cards that we enjoyed when I was a kid.

The Smithsonian has taken some of these stereoview cards from the Civil War and wanted people to be able to view them on the web. They have created an image that 'flickers' back and forth between the left eye image and the right eye image. It gives the sense of 3-D and is a great representation of what the stereoview cards look like through the Stereoviewer.

It does flicker, and so you may find it difficult to watch or it may even cause a headache if you look at them for a while - but it is fascinating that they can do this. Check out a total of nine at this website.