Since 1978 most of the world's surviving stereographic negatives and prints have been housed at UCR CMP, a gift to the museum from the Mast family of Iowa. Known now as the Keystone-Mast Collection, it consists of over 30 tons of original steroscopic negatives (mostly glass), cards, record books, and salesmens catalogues from several publishers -- Keystone View Company, Underwood and Underwood Company, B.W. Kilburn Company, H.C. White Compnay, Universal Photo-Art Company, American Stereoscopic Company, W.H. Rau, T.W. Ingersoll, and Berry, Kelley and Chadwick -- most of whom were bought out by Keystone View Comany by 1920. "After 1920, for all practical purposes, Keystone View Company was the only major producer of stereographs in the world," writes William C. Darrah in his book The World of Stereographs. He goes on to say, "With the passing of years has come a growing recognition of the invaluable record provided by Underwood and Keystone View Company, perhaps unwittingly, as they documented the modernization of the world."

Indeed, the collection at UCR CMP holds the bulk of that production, nearly140,000 cards and 350,000 negatives covering more than 40,000 titles as listed in the ideosyncratic filing system of the stereographic companies (made all the more confusing with the re-cataloguing efforts of the Keystone View Company when it bought up the stores of the other companies). Many of the stereographic file cards include useful hand-written or typed notes by the photographer or by company editors which describe the subect. Indeed some notes go farther still, providing additional information such as the problems faced by the photographer in the field and, occasionally, will even include the name of the photographer. There are also grade stamps, presummably applied by the editors, noting the quality of image and its degree of utility in the commercial scheme.

Edward R. Beardsley, the museum's founding director, described the collection as a vast omniform literature that is accessible to everyone, regardless of interest, language, or habit. Joe Deal, former UCR CMP curator, described it as a wide, unknown and essentially untapped literature where one could conceivably pick a subject, any subject, and it would undoubtedly be depicted in some form. The stereographic images of the Pacific alone amount to roughly 20,000 images filed under various categories (mostly broad geographic groupings). The following is just a rough selection of file categories identified by the author as useful to Pacific scholars:

  • Australia
  • Guam
  • Hawaii
  • New Guinea
  • Samoa
  • Fiji
  • Philippine Islands (Guam appears here too)
  • Outlying Possessions of the U.S.
  • Chicago World Fair (1893)
  • "Miscellaneous Racial Type" files covering in part the South Sea Islands
  • Australia collection files covering Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, New Guinea
  • Industry files covering topics such as fishing, shoes, clothing, stone, quarries from around the world.
    • Many of the geographic categories can be classed as ports-of-call along the major shipping lanes, and of course, belie the more probable mode of travel for many or most of the photographers crossing the Pacific (usually as deck passengers on steamers or even as hands on freighters). Such ports-of-call photographs at least lend the potential researcher a broad view of the scope of travel by these photographers and suggest clues as to which of the Pacific islands are apt to be represented elsewhere in the collection.

    The stereographs of the collection are in good to excellent condition. Among the glass negatives or on the printed cards can be found the remnants of traditional activities (poi pounding, for example) and occupations (fishing, sailing), rituals, crafts, architecture, monuments, and sundry material culture elements that once dominated the daily lives of the indigenes, as well as views of the modern, burgeoning development in many of the ports and towns across the Pacific (people, architecture, street scenes, industries, natural vistas). Admittedly, some shots have been manipulated or exaggerated (a studio shot of an Hawaiian dancer posed against a painted backdrop), but overall the introduction of foreign elements into an image does not appear to be a routine practice (at least when compared with Native American portraits in the Southwestern U.S. where the subject was made to look more "Indian-like" by the addition of costume elements from other geographically distant tribal cultures). Certainly, as the photographers were fanning out across the Pacific, one has to ask if they would include all sorts of accouterment and decorative devices for their pictures of exotic people and places in their already voluminous baggage of camera, developing equipment, and photographic accessories.

    The author's selections from the Keystone-Mast collection have been made with archaeological issues in mind, especially the elements that might shed light on material culture of the indigenous populations and how those elements play into the context of current archaeological interpretation. To this end, the images were sorted into three broad categories:

    • architecture and monuments
    • implements and utensils, including weapons
    • ornaments
    Of course, as more work is done with the collections, these categories will likely be refined.

    Close examination of these photographs can show how an item was used or worn, what it looked like in its complete form, and, in some cases, how it was fashioned. As a supplement to standard archaeological interpretation, the photographs at least establish a context and offer alternative explanations. Shell rings, for example, have been recovered in both fragmentary and complete forms from archaeological contexts across the Pacific. Within the literature, the rings have often been described as bracelets or bangles. Yet, images from New Guinea, suggest their use as elements in a necklace or as breastplates. This would seem a reasonable alternative explanation and ought to be added to the list of possibilities when making interpretations in the field. The author has not entered upon the possibly ethnographic interpretations of such rings here, though that is yet another area of archival research routinely incorporated into the archaeological background descriptions of an area. In another example are stone and/or coral foundations, a common feature in the archaeological landscape in both coral and volcanic islands. The stereographs examined would seem to offer some assistance in resolving questions on the types of structures that may have been raised on such foundations.


      * Darrah, William C., The World of Stereographs, 1977, W.C. Darrah, Pub., Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

    SELECTED ILLUSTRATIONS FROM KEYSTONE-MAST COLLECTION


    Click on a selection to view photograph. Each includes a brief discussion of the photograph and the elements likely to be of interest to researchers.


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