World War I Stereograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: Photo 2030

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The World War I stereograph collection consists of 106 images documenting World War I and published by the Keystone View Company. The origins of this particular collection and how it was deposited at the Institute for Regional Studies is unknown. The collection has been organized into seven broad series: American soldiers, Soldiers, Germany, Artillery and aerials, Trenches and war dead, Ruins and finally a general category. Each stereograph has a title on the front and a descriptive narrative printed on the back of each stereograph. Some appear to have been taken or at least published in the 1920s. None have specific dates.

The stereographs cover a wide variety of topics, even within the various series. Most were taken in Europe, although there are some taken in the United States. Some of the most graphic images are those of war dead, particularly German soldiers. The General file includes images of armaments, barbed wire lines, French and American military leaders, grave of Quentin Roosevelt, and 1921 disarmament conference in Washington, D.C.

Dates

1910 - 1929

Creator

Keystone View Company. (Organization)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection remain with the creators or is in the public domain.

History

The Keystone View Company was a major distributor of stereographic images. The company was started in Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1892 by B.L. Singley, who previously was a salesman for Underwood & Underwood. By the 1920s it had become the largest publisher of stereographs. In 1978, the company's records and inventory of negatives were donated to the UCR/California Museum of Photography at the University of California Riverside, where they are now known as the Keystone-Mast collection.