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Underwood & Underwood Stereographs of Manufacturing Industries
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Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Science History Institute Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Underwood & Underwood, a maker of stereoscopic images and equipment, was founded by brothers Bert Elias Underwood (1862-1943) and Elmer Underwood (1860-1947) in 1882 in Ottowa, Kansas. Initially, the company operated as a western distributor for stereographs produced in the eastern United States, but later contracted with freelance photographers to publish their own stereographs around 1891. As its business expanded, Underwood & Underwood relocated to Baltimore in 1888 and then New York City prior to 1900. In 1895, the company established an educational unit and introduced boxed sets organized around specific themes, such as education, religion, and travel. These sets, which the company actively marketed to schools for instructional purposes, coincided with a shift towards more experiential education and the popularity of the stereoscope and stereographs as a form of "edutainment" suitable for the entire family. Throughout the early 1900s, Underwood & Underwood, along with its chief competitor, Keystone View Company, dominated the stereoscopic market and produced as many as 40,000 stereographic titles. In 1921, Underwood & Underwood sold their stereoscopic business to Keystone View, opting to specialize in news, portraiture, and commercial photography. Following the Underwood brothers' retirement in 1925, Underwood & Underwood ceased operations in the 1940s.
This collection consists of 48 stereographs depicting various stages in the industrial manufacture of glass, steel, iron, and salt published by Underwood & Underwood after 1895. The stereographs are numbered and grouped by subject, reflecting how they would have been marketed and sold by the company as sets intended for educational use. This collection comes from the Department of Chemistry at Oberlin College, where the stereographs are thought to have been purchased and used for teaching purposes. The stereographs are arranged into the following seven sets:
- Making 12-gallon glass carboys. Glass Works, N.J.
- Making glass sheets from cylinders
- Making glass tubing and pipettes
- Making blown-glass bottles. Glass Works, N.J.
- Making iron and steel by several processes
- Rolling mills for steel
- Salt-making
This collection comes from the Department of Chemistry at Oberlin College, where the stereographs are thought to have been purchased and used for teaching purposes.
This collection has been entirely digitized and is available online in our Digital Collections: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/collections/b2773v69s
The Underwood & Underwood Stereographs of Manufacturing Industries were donated by Terry Carlton, on behalf of Oberlin College, in 2015.
The Underwood & Underwood Stereographs of Manufacturing Industries were processed by Hillary S. Kativa in 2015. Object ID numbers were assigned to individual stereographs. Set titles were devised by the donor. Item titles are printed on the stereographs.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Science History Institute Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid created and encoded into EAD by Hillary S. Kativa.
- Finding Aid Date
- 2015
- Access Restrictions
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There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.
- Use Restrictions
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No Copyright - United States. For reproductions and additional copyright information, contact: reproductions@sciencehistory.org.
Collection Inventory
This set consists of six stereographs detailing the production of 12-gallon glass carboys.
Physical Description6 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of seven stereographs detailing the production of glass sheets.
Physical Description7 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of three stereographs detailing the production of glass tubing and pipettes.
Physical Description3 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of five stereographs detailing the production of blown-glass bottles.
Physical Description5 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of fourteen stereographs detailing the production of iron and steel by various processes.
Physical Description14 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of seven stereographs detailing the production of steel.
Physical Description7 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.
This set consists of six stereographs detailing the mining and production of salt.
Physical Description6 Photographic Prints, 7 x 3 in.