Lincoln at the Library

3D Photography in Lincoln’s Time

Presented by Colleen Woolpert

Join us for Lincoln at the Library: 3D Photography in Lincoln’s Time presented by Colleen Woolpert on Saturday, October 26 at 2pm. The program is offered both virtually via Zoom and in-person at the Allen County Public Library Main downtown location in Meeting Room A. Virtual reality and the View-Master are familiar to many, but 3D photography goes back to the invention of photography itself. Stereographs are small cards containing two nearly-identical photos which give the illusion of a three-dimensional scene when viewed with a stereoscope. Hugely popular from around 1850–1930, their role as important cultural assets is often overshadowed by their novelty. Indeed, stereographs were the first mass media and the earliest examples of documentary photography. The Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection holds numerous stereographs featuring President Abraham Lincoln and Civil War scenes. Attendees will learn the history of this fascinating photography format and view stereographs from the library’s collection as well as those on broader topics that would have educated and amused people in Lincoln’s time.

Colleen Woolpert is an educator and artist based in Kalamazoo, Michigan with a fondness for stereographs owing to her identity as half of a nearly identical pair herself, whose twin struggles with depth perception. Her TwinScope project promotes the appreciation and display of stereographs through public exhibitions and events. Colleen is also the inventor and maker of the TwinScope Viewer, an exhibition stereoscope that has been acquired by numerous collectors, artists, and institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Library enthusiasts visiting Kalamazoo can view a permanent display of local 3D views from the 1870s in the Local History Room of the Kalamazoo Public Library.

For questions, email [email protected].

Registration is required.

Attending virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwucu-uqj4pHdXpKx0LuPTTdvrJaDRvE-b7.

In-person: https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11877400