Many of us in the modern era look back on a traditional Christmas with quite a bit of romance, and rightfully so. The elegant simplicity of decorations, hand crafted ornaments and thoughtful gifts make the perfect recipe for fond memories.
In 1893, when Sears and Roebuck came out with their first catalog, Christmas changed forever. Over the coming years, children would peer through the pages looking for the perfect toys that Santa might leave for them under their tree or in their stocking at Christmas. Long before the advent of electronics and fancy games, simple forms of entertainment were often very popular.
One of the most common items in homes around the turn of the century, and a common Christmas gift, was a stereo viewer. This small novelty item was a viewer that you could place up to your eyes with a card held in a mount that had two images on it. When you looked upon it, the stereo viewer would make it appear three dimensional. Surely something magical to those who first looked into a new world provided by the many cards that were available for the stereo viewer.
In a 1909 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog, the very stereo viewer shown in the photograph with Father Christmas could be found at the price of 49 cents. Cards could be purchased in sets, often in groups of 12, and in some cases in sets as large as 50, often with various themes all for well under 50 cents. One specific set included images of the operations at the Sears, Roebuck, & Co. itself, while others showed famous and historic landmarks around the world, beautiful scenes of Victorian home life, sports, nature and exotic destinations.
Local photographers were also able to make cards with local scenes. Many such exist in the collection of the Greene County Historical Society, with views of Waynesburg, farms through out the county and events that took place around the turn of the century.
Father Christmas in the photo is holding up a card that came from a holiday set that shows a hand-colored depiction of the Nativity.
Stereo viewers can still be found in production today, often with cards that depict historical events. Photos from the Civil War are now a popular choice in cards that come with newer stereo viewers.
This viewer and many others can be viewed at the Greene County Historical Society, and often if you ask our staff, they will allow you to place a card in the mount and look back in time to a three-dimensional image, much in the way children might have done on a Christmas morning over a hundred years ago!
