Description

Includes stereo cards of Boston Campus.

Stamped with maker mark and decorative divots on metal eye surround. Metal rimmed eye slots and wooden frame, slide holder and flip handle.

Before commercial broadcasts -- radio, movies, and television -- the stereoscope was the main source of visual information about the world. Every middle-class and upper-class home had a stereoscope in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Special cards with a pair of nearly identical images allowed one to tour the world from home as well as to see images of important events in the news. Local images were popular, too, so it is not surprising that Boston photography studios captured pictures of MIT's original Boston campus. These stereographs allowed a glimpse of campus interiors and were the original means by which MIT broadcast its image to the world. [MIT 150 Exhibition label text]