Midcentury Stereopanorama: See the 1950s in Astonishing 3-D

Hold the viewer to your eyes, press the button to illuminate the 3-D Kodachrome slide and be transported back in time. Discover the amazing and forgotten technology enthusiasts call “the virtual reality of the 1950s.”

Introduced in 1947, the Stereo Realist camera and viewer brought full-color 3-D photography with astonishing realism to the masses. The craze peaked in popularity in the mid-1950s — reaching hundreds of thousands of American homes — then slowly disappeared.

Emmy-winning writer Eric Drysdale has been collecting these uncanny, immersive snapshots for nearly 30 years. In this intimate salon you’ll learn about the science and history behind the technology, then see the very best of his collection in high-quality, fully-restored vintage viewers– the way they were meant to be seen.

You’ll feel almost as if you’re there (and then) as you explore every aspect of post-war American life: work and play; home and travel; city, suburb and country. Part art, part history, part science, part séance. It’s the closest to time travel you’re likely to experience.

"It eludes description... this really singular time-travel journey."

— Avery Trufelman, 99% invisible, Articles of Interest

“As you click away on your very own battery-powered, plastic time machine, you will have the rare opportunity to gaze upon hundreds of haunting and hilarious, poignant and puzzling, bleak and beautiful images. Beyond the trippy novelty of 3-D lies the heart of the event—a tour de force of curatorial passion and panache that rivals any top-shelf gallery show. If you are a lover of photography, you are in for a truly one-of-a-kind viewing experience impossible to anticipate.”

— Matt Mahurin, Photographer, illustrator and filmmaker (I Like Killing Flies)

“Eric plays the perfect tour guide, never telling you what to think or leaving you without context as you stare into the dreams and lives of a world long past. It’s how photographic history was meant to be experienced.”

— Jason Scott, Archivist, Internet Archive

More info at www.midcentury3d.org

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Host or Publisher Eric Drysdale