Rapid advancements and innovation continuously redefined the field of photography throughout the mid-19th century. Improvements in camera and lens designs, changes in chemistry and technique, and the ever-growing appetite of the viewing public for affordable quality images drove photography from fringe curiosity to the forefront of mass media within twenty years of its introduction. Stereography, a photographic technique by which the viewer is tricked into perceiving a single three dimensional scene from two juxtaposed images, was an early and almost magical addition to the repertoire of accomplished photographers in Europe and America. Within a decade following the first demonstrations of the principle of stereopsis by Charles Wheatstone in 1838 there were practitioners utilizing the earliest and most rudimentary photographic techniques to render people and scenes in three dimensions with varying degrees of success. Continued refinement and the increased availability of cheap stereoscopes allowed stereographs to evolve from fringe luxury items to affordable and ubiquitous parlor companions around the world.

In Antebellum America the Catskills were already a celebrated and storied vacationland. These relatively accessible mountain environs had been elevated to something of a national treasure in works by painters and authors, so the area naturally attracted photographers almost immediately following the world introduction of the daguerreotype. A choice few of these practitioners composed early stereographs which survive to this day as one-of-a-kind expressions of their technique and artistry. These stereographs were a fascinating product. Using a stereo camera two lenses would simultaneously expose subtly different angles of the same scene on a wet (or later dry) photographic plate to create an image. Using those two lenses spaced roughly six centimeters apart allowed the camera to “see” much the same way the spacing of our eyes facilitates perception in three dimensions. Early practitioners apparently sometimes attempted this with a single lens by moving the entire camera slightly. The end result would appear like the first example below.

A stereo daguerreotype of the rear of the Catskill Mountain House — **“Catskill Mountain House and Mr. John Allen’s Dog” by S. Root, 1854**
This stereo Daguerreotype of the rear entrance to the Catskill Mountain House was audaciously composed by Samuel Root while visiting in 1854. Now heavily damaged with age, the two daguerreotypes within were not composed synchronously, leaving the image exposed in a different position on each plate. Even within a properly seated mounting the stereo effect would be minimally apparent, as the focus of each image is also substantially different. Daguerreotypes are one-of-a-kind, meaning Mr. Root’s effort to compose and mount the image resulted in only one salable item for his troubles. Collections of the Vedder Research Library.

Stereographs, like all other photographic styles, benefitted immensely from the innovation of new and improved negative-positive print techniques. The Langenheim brothers of Philadelphia had met with considerable success using the Calotype technique and the Hyalotype technique (which they patented) to offer stereo views on paper and glass prior to the Civil War, but the albumen printing technique finally made negative-positive printing accessible broadly to the photographic community on the eve of the Civil War. As the Civil War raged people across the nation were suddenly able to purchase images of great statesmen and generals, or commission multiple duplicate images of themselves and friends for nominal fees. This simultaneously made photography more affordable for the subject and more lucrative for the photographer. The stereograph was adapted quickly to an albumen print format with remarkable success, and the Catskills suddenly became an affordable destination which could be comfortably reached from anywhere in the country by simply sitting in the parlor with a stereoscope.

Oliver Wendell Holmes designed this affordable stereoscope before the Civil War and never patented it, allowing copycats to make these viewers affordably for the benefit of a public craving stereograph images. Mounted in the viewer is an E. & H. T. Anthony stereograph c. 1873 showing ice formations at Kaaterskill Falls.

Among the most prolific of the firms creating and publishing stereographs of the Catskills were Edward and Henry T. Anthony (E. and H. T. Anthony & Co.) of New York and John Jacob Loeffler of Staten Island. By all indications the Anthony brothers were the earliest of the two, but their portfolio was far more encompassing than just selling scenery of the Catskills. They funded and published some of Matthew Brady’s work during the Civil War, and sourced images from across the country in an effort to appeal to a broad audience who may not have necessarily had the money to travel but had the money for a stereograph. Edward and Henry Anthony’s main source of income was in the sale of photographic supplies, and they were one of the largest US-based sellers in the mid-19th century.

“Looking Down the Kauterskill, from New Laurel House” Scene 4202 from *The Glens of the Catskills* by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., c. 1865; Collections of the Vedder Research Library, item PC-0000-0022-0034.

The earliest of the Anthony brothers’ Catskill Mountain scenery may date to the Civil War, but their work, much like that of J. Loeffler, is exceedingly difficult to precisely date. This is because much of their promotions, sales material, and business records apparently longer exists or are otherwise inaccessible — so while we know they most certainly had a collectible stereograph series called “Glens of the Catskills,” we don’t know precisely when they first advertised it or when they took the pictures to create the series. In many cases older images from other series could be incorporated into new collectible series, meaning an image originally published in the late 1860s could still be making the rounds in the 1880s if it was a good seller.

The Getty Museum dates some of E. and H. T. Anthony’s stereographs as early as the beginning of the 1860s, meaning that at least a selection of the Anthony portfolio was created using wet collodion plates that had to be prepared, exposed, and fixed on-site in the woods where the picture was taken. Their groundbreaking and unusual winter scenery, which they published several versions of in the 1870s, were probably done using dry plates which would have been far more forgiving in freezing temperatures. In fact the advent of dry plate stock in the early 1870s may have been the only thing that made their very novel winter series of stereographs possible, hence their appearance following the invention of dry photographic plates.

“View from Sunset Rock, looking East” Scene 265 from *Artistic Series: Winter in the Catskills* by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., c. 1873; Collections of the Vedder Research Library, item PC-0000-0022-0003.

“Caves of the Ice King under Kauterskill Falls” Scene 274 from *Artistic Series: Winter in the Catskills* by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., c. 1873; Collections of the Vedder Research Library, item PC-0000-0022-0009.

John Jacob Loeffler’s work in the Catskills, while more or less concurrent with the Anthony Brothers, is even more difficult to date because there is comparatively much less information available about him. A subsequent article will consider one of his images, the location it was composed, and how this can be used to facilitate an understanding of Loeffler’s artistic vision and a rough date of composition.

By Jonathan Palmer, Greene County Historian

Questions and comments can be directed to Jon at archivist@gchistory.org