The Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum Fan Site

We’d like to share this special museum with you. As past visitors and fans of the Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum, we’ve brought back the website to hopefully share this little Pennsylvanian gem with all of you!

An Adventure in Three-Dimensional Photographic History Awaits You!

Enter the world of stereographic (three-dimensional) photography that captured the interest of generations, starting in Queen Victoria’s time.

Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum features photography of the Keystone View Company, of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Started in 1892 as a one-man business, the Keystone View Company grew into the world’s largest producer of stereographic materials. Keystone’s photographers covered the globe recording historic events.

Stereography began as a parlor amusement, where images of foreign landscapes and famous individuals were viewed in wonder, as each scene appeared to come alive in the full depth of perception – so unlike flat two-dimensional photographs

As the twentieth-century progressed stereographic photography began to be used in classroom instruction, optometry and by the military. They also photographed local families and businesses, used to illustrate Keystone View Company’s classroom stereographic social studies sets.

Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum
423 Chestnut Street
Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335

April through November
Saturdays 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Open By Appointment Only
Sunday-Friday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Call (814) 720-4306

The Point of Pittsburgh – for Pittsburgh sports fans.

A special camera with two lenses spaced two-and-a-half inches apart (the distance between the pupils of a person’s eyes) took two nearly identical photographs. When the photos are mounted on a backing and viewed through a stereoscope the viewer’s brain is tricked into seeing the two images as one three-dimensional image.

During the Keystone View Company’s early years wooden cameras with glass negatives were used. One of Johnson-Shaw Stereographic Museum’s many treasures is an antique stereoscopic camera.

Stereographic photography has left an indelible mark on history, eye care and technology. Now is your opportunity to walk back in time and view the photographic wonders that documented both history’s tragedy and whimsy.

Johnson-Shaw Stereoscopic Museum provides our visitors:

* Education and Entertainment

* Group Tours

* Special Exhibits

* Senior, Child and Student Discounts

* Research Library for Special Studies

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