THE NAYLOR COLLECTION

THREE-DIMENSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
FORERUNNERS OF THE SLIDE PROJECTOR,
magic lanterns were used by itinerant showmen
and lecturers to display their hand-drawn
images. The Naylor Collection contains magic
lanterns dating from the late 17th century. The
rarest of its holdings is an elaborately-crafted
triple-lens magic lantern from England, dating
from 1875. In addition to the lanterns, The Collection
also includes slides, books about magic
lanterns, and an 1877 Edison phonograph with
its wax cylinders used to provide accompanying
music.
MAGIC LANTERNS
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Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes stereo viewer;
Boston, 1859
THE NAYLOR COLLECTION, AMONG ITS MANY OTHER EXAMPLES OF
three-dimensional photography, has one of the earliest hand-held stereoscopic
viewers, which were invented by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894),
physician, poet, essayist, and father of the famous Supreme Court jurist.
The Collection’s other articles of three-dimensional technology include many
table viewers, viewers designed and built in London and Paris, matched pairs
of floor-model viewers, and folding viewers. Among its modern viewers is an
automated one 5 feet high fabricated by Arthur Marsh. There are hundreds of
three-dimensional views in The Collection for these viewers.
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Multiple-Image
Picture Frames
Of The Collections’
11 multiple -image
picture frames, the
largest (from 1870-
1880) measures 48-
by-48-inches, weighs
70 p o u n d s , a n d
includes 24 carte-devisite
photos, each in
its own 4-by-6-inch
frame.
Brewster stereo
viewer; England,
1855
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D a g u e r r e o t y p e
stereo viewer with
image of mother and
dead infant; South
Africa 1848
One-of-a-kind stereo
viewer with lenses on
t w o s i d e s ; N e w
H ampshire, USA ,
1871
Photographers’
Advertisements
This collection of
photographers’ advertisements
illuminates
the commercial,
sociological, and
artistic roles played
by photography in
the imaginations of
Americans.
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