Plains Indian Tribes stereographs, 1882-1921

Identifying stereo producers can be difficult as the relationship between photographer, publisher, and distributor is not always clear and often not documented on the image. In addition, negatives changed ownership as businesses closed. In some cases, the same image was published by more than one company with no credit or copyright indicated. The work of the following photographers/publishers/distributors is included in this collection of stereographs:

American Views

American Views was a New York publisher that produced lower-quality stereographs and duplicated images produced by other companies.

Bailey, Dix & Mead

George Dix and his business partners Bailey and Mead (possibly Josiah J. Mead) were based at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory. They produced a series of photographs of Sitting Bull and his band of Sioux Indians when they were imprisoned at Fort Randall in 1882. It is possible that Bailey, Dix & Mead commissioned photographer William R. Cross from Hot Springs, D.T., to create the photographic series.

Crahan Manufacturing Company

The company was run by Thomas Crahan, and was active in Seattle, Washington, from 1899-1900. Crahan, was an assistant to R. K. Bonine during his Alaska visit to the Klondike in 1899, and as a commercial cinematographer worked on Bonine’s moving pictures for the 1900 Paris International Exposition.

W. R. Cross, Photo

William R. Cross was born in Vermont. During the years 1868-1878 he operated photographic studios in several Nebraska locations including Omaha, Norfolk, Fort Meade, and Niobrara. In 1878 he relocated to Hot Springs, South Dakota, where Cross Studios operated until 1898.

Griffith & Griffith

George W. Griffith began as a door-to-door canvasser for Underwood and Underwood. He left that firm in 1896 to join with his brother as Griffith & Griffith in Philadelphia, which became a major publisher and distributor handling views by H. L. Roberts (Roberts and Fellows), William H. Rau, and M. H. Zahner (Niagara Falls). Griffith & Griffith eventually produced more than 10,000 titles, numerous boxed sets, and thousands of lithographs.

Keystone View Company

The Keystone View Company, located in Meadville, Pennsylvania, was a major stereographic business from 1892 through 1963, producing and distributing both educational and comic/sentimental stereo views and stereoscopes. The company was started by Benneville Lloyd Singley (1864-1938), who had been a salesman for Underwood & Underwood. In 1892, when French Creek overflowed its banks and flooded Meadville, Singley photographed the damage and pasted them on cardboard mounts bearing the name of Keystone View Company. The company expanded rapidly and by 1905, the year it was incorporated, it was the largest business of its kind in the world. All manufacturing was done in Meadville, but branch offices were in New York; St. Louis; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Chicago; Toronto, Canada; and London, England. Salesmen and photographers were scattered around the world, and the company was offering 20,000 different views. Between 1915 and 1921, Keystone View Company purchased the negatives of nearly all its competitors, including Underwood & Underwood, and continued to have staff photographers traveling the world. By 1935 Keystone had approximately two million stereoscopic negatives.

Martin’s Gallery of Stereoscopic Views

Martin’s Gallery was in St. Paul, Minnesota, and served as an agent for London Stereoscopic Company, American and Foreign Stereoscopic Company, Upton’s Minnesota Stereographs and Views, and Carbutt’s Stereographs and Views in the North-West.

Underwood & Underwood

The company was founded in 1881 in Ottawa, Kansas, by two brothers, Elmer (1859 - 1947) and Bert Elias (1862 - 1943). They moved to Baltimore and then to New York City in 1891. At one time, Underwood & Underwood was producing 10 million views a year and had developed a successful selling system featuring neighborhood door-to-door canvassing by college students. By 1910, the company had entered the field of news photography, and due to this expansion, stereograph production was reduced until the early years of World War I. Altogether the company produced between 30,000 and 40,000 stereographic titles. In 1920 stereograph production was discontinued and Underwood & Underwood sold its stereographic stock and rights to the Keystone View Company. The company ceased business in the 1940s.

H.C. White & Company

Hawley C. White was a photographer in Vermont and New York. His company was a major producer and distributor during the years 1901-1914, issuing many thousand views and being second only to Keystone and Underwood. White was also an inventor and developed the "perfect stereograph".