The 19th Century Goes Digital

Specially designed digital imaging
software and liquid crystal spectacles
display H. H. Bennett's stereo
photographs in 3-D on
high-resolution monitors.


A stunning stereo image of Bass Cove,
one of Bennett's favorite haunts.

Space-age technology designed for the Mars Pathfinder project brings to life the eye-popping, stereo photographs H. H. Bennett took more than a century ago. The history center's special digital exhibit of Bennett's stereo photographs uses the latest in three-dimensional, stereo-imaging technology to put the pictures in a powerful new perspective. When 19th-century armchair travelers viewed Bennett's stereo views in a handheld stereoscope, they saw magnificent scenes in 3-D. This digital exhibit achieves the same effect on high-end computer monitors, simulating the depth of a stereoscope's three-dimensional view.

Computers, synchronized with special glasses outfitted with liquid crystal lenses, make figures in the historic images pop out of high-resolution 21-inch monitors, giving unprecedented depth to scenes Bennett shot on glass plates more than a century before. Even the design of the high-tech glasses worn by the viewer intends to replicate the experience of holding a 19th-century stereoscope up to the eyes. The design of the eyewear blocks peripheral vision to create an immersing, solitary experience for the viewer — much like the moving experience that helped to sell Bennett's stereo photos by the thousands during his heyday.