This collection is arranged in numerical order by the stereoview identification number printed on each image; the stereoviews are followed by the stereoscope viewer.
Accession No. RARE.2025.0176: Purchased, 2020 January
[identification of item], Alfred S. Campbell Stereoviews of Cleveland and Bedford (Ohio) and Stereoscope, SPEC.RARE.0363, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2025 November; Finding aid written by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2025 November
Alfred S. Campbell (1840-1912) was an English art photographer and commericial inventor. He founded his own photography studio, Campbell Studios, in Elizabethtown, New Jersey in 1871; it was later known as Alfred S. Campbell Studios. This business alone proved to be not profitable enough for him, so he pivoted and built a photographic print facility there that became the largest mass reproduction plant in the United States. The studio specialized in art reproduction, and by the late 1880s had a monopoly on the cigarette card printing trade, including stereoviews. In the 1900s, the studio also was known for its portraits of Broadway stars and other theatrical photography. Campbell was also known as an inventor of photographic processes, camera lenses, photograph paper manufacturing, and printing techniques.
Stereoviews are two separate images printed side by side, often on a card. A stereoscope is a device used to view stereoviews through two separate lenses, one for each eye, that makes the images appear as a single three-dimensional image. Stereoscopes and stereoviews viewed through them were popular type of optical home entertainments from the 1850s through the 1930s. Stereoviews were often sold in sets depicting themes such as education, fairy tales, religion, and travel sets depicting locations around the world.
Cleveland, Ohio was first settled by white settlers in 1796, and incorporated as a village in 1814; by the end of the 1890s, it was the tenth largest city in the United States. At that time it was seen as a center of manufacturing and industry, especially for the steel industry, and many of its citizens were heavily involved in the labor movement.
Bedford, Ohio was officially founded as Bedford Township in 1823; it is an eastern suburb of Cleveland. Bedford was historically known as a transportation hub, as it is situated on the former main stagecoach route between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, as well as near the Ohio and Erie Canal, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, and the Connotton Valley Railroad.
The Alfred S. Campbell Stereoviews of Cleveland and Bedford (Ohio) and Sterescope date from 1896 and the 1900s, and consist of a stereoscope with 25 stereoviews printed by Alfred S. Campbell Studios. The stereoviews come from an set of black and white photographic images of Cleveland and nearby suburb Bedford, Ohio; the photographer of the images is unknown. This collection consists of an incomplete set, and only includes images from Cleveland and Bedford. All of the stereoviews are unique images of landscapes, buildings, cityscapes, viaducts, and statues, though some are different views of the same location. Each stereoview has an identifying number printed on it along with a caption describing what location it pictures; number 459 was assigned twice, but shows two different views of Cleveland's Public Square.