H. H. Bennett's Stereo Photographs

A stereo card picturing a scene of
Witches' Gulch on the Wisconsin River.
(Click on the image for a larger view.)

Hand-held stereoscopes, a staple of every well-outfitted Victorian parlor, provided armchair travelers everywhere a means of enjoying the scenic wonders of 19th-century America in three dimensions. H. H. Bennett, ever the entrepreneur, did not let the popularity of stereo viewers and stereo photography pass him by. He produced thousands of stereo photographs, mounted on cards emblazoned with the name of his studio, and sold them nationwide through agents who traveled the Midwest.

Bennett understood the aesthetics of the three-dimensional image, which relies on the principle that each eye sees a slightly different view when looking in the same direction, and he chose scenes for his photographs accordingly. He selected images with an established foreground, background and mid-range, often using foreground elements such as trees and rocks to frame a central figure that would appear to stand out from the rest of the picture. The H. H. Bennett Studio & History Center uses both traditional stereoscopes and the latest in computerized, stereo-imaging technology to re-create the three-dimensional effect.