detail, or anaglyph 3D
While the major illustrated magazine of the day, Harper's Weekly , covered political activities, most of the attention went to stories with more pictorial drama. For example, during McKinley's re-election campaign against William Jennings Bryan in 1900, the Presidential aspirants competed with the Boer War, an insurgency in China, and the Galveston Hurricane in September which killed thousands of people. Editors reasonably expected photographs of a terrible disaster to sell more news magazines than more static images of an orator, even a great one, on the stump. In a weekly magazine, picture editors could only devote a small portion to the political campaign.
The stereograph publishers were in a better position. In the case of an election they could simply wait for the results before marketing a group of stereographs. Their editorial view was retrospective-they were free to concentrate on the proven favorite. While a whistle-stop speaking schedule could only follow the limited network of railways, a set of stereographs depicting the candidate's travels could be sent anywhere in the country. Through the stereograph, participatory democracy became a vicarious experience.
The Underwood & Underwood Company was particularly adept in developing special groups of stereo views on particular topics. Indeed, they pioneered the concept of a boxed set of original photographs with explanatory text. The encyclopedic nature of Underwood's offerings assisted them in emphasizing the educational value of stereographs. The images' three-dimensional illusions brought viewers to scenes of recent history, to the capitals of exotic countries, or face to face with the President of the United States.
In their catalogue for 1908, Underwood & Underwood offered over eighty boxed sets of twenty-four to one hundred views, costing from $4.00 to $27.00. Though most were based on a specific geographical locale, sets of pictures of McKinley and Roosevelt are listed: five versions for McKinley (ranging from twelve to sixty views), and a single set of thirty-six views for Roosevelt. Underwood tried hard to make a dollar on the martyred president, offering a special version with 183-page book, "with real leather case, velvet-lined, inscription in silver." Ten of the sixty stereographs dealt with his funeral. While the Roosevelt boxed set is limited to thirty-six views, it was drawn from a published listing of sixty-eight views. However, the holdings in the Keystone-Mast Collection from the Underwood & Underwood Company show over 220 negatives that were published, and at least another 165 that were never circulated in any form.
 X4976 Anaglyph 3D |  X23467 Anaglyph 3D |
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