150 years on, 3-D Civil War photos unveiled

The Library of Congress announced a fascinating glimpse of Civil War images to be viewed in 3-D.

Library of Congress Photography Curator Carol Johnson said on their blog that stereo photography first became popular around the time of the Civil War. In fact, many Civil War photographs were made specifically to be viewed in 3-D.

U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers via Library of Congress

A group of nine men pose in front of a tent with a surveying instrument at left. The two men seated center and right are most likely Frederick W. Door and John W. Donn. The officer seated to the left is William H. Paine who invented the steel tape reel worn by the man standing on the right. Standing second from right appears to be Allan Pinkerton. Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862.

The Library of Congress is featuring images of original Civil War stereographs on Flickr along with recently acquired digital anaglyphs made from several of the stereo views. Anaglyphs are the blue and red tinted images you need those funny 3-D glasses for.

Library of Congress

General Ulysses S. Grant leans over a bench to examine a map held by General George G. Meade at a council of war in 1864.

Many stereograph cards like the one above are being digitized and made available online. There are already over 350 on display here.

Library of Congress

Stone church in Centreville, Va. during the Civil War.

Library of Congress

Anaglyph stereograph made from digital images of a pair of stereograph negatives (above) by George N. Barnard in March 1862.

In addition to anaglyphs, the Flickr set features rare stereographs printed on cards and some of the Library’s unique original glass negative stereo plates.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Anaglyph stereograph made from digital images of a pair of stereograph negatives (above) of the Petersburg railroad depot in Richmond, Va., during the Civil War.

Related content:
Civil War stereographs on Flickr
Library of Congress' 1600+ stereographs
Nightly News video: Faces of the Civil War
How Civil War photography changed war

Discuss this post

Seriously cool stuff if you have a pair of red/blue anaglyph glasses.

    Reply#1 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:39 AM EDT

    Just cross your eyes on the side by side photos till you get one in the middle thats 3d...

      #1.1 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:28 PM EDT

      It is really cool looking with these 3D glasses. I love the pic by George N. Barnard it really looks like you are looking over rolling hills. Great exibit I am sure.

        #1.2 - Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:48 PM EDT
        Reply

        Yeah, wish I had some on hand so that I could check out the 3D pics.

          Reply#2 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:32 PM EDT

          aw man! I have astigmatism and can't see the coolness!

            Reply#3 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:33 PM EDT

            You don't need the 3D glasses for the photos that are doubled. You just have to cross your eyes and find the right distance from your computer monitor which for me was about a foot and a half. Honest it works.

              Reply#5 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:50 PM EDT

              Just remember to look at the 'middle' photograph and you are right. My eyes even adjusted and fixed to it !

                #5.1 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:23 PM EDT
                Reply

                Mr. President,

                The last time in our nation's history a President claimed a power to call any US citizen an enemy, even though the risk of the Union falling may have been a better justification.

                What is wrong with the Paradox war criminal, coward, traitor?

                http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.renegadebs.com/miscjunk/Obama-Lincoln-Memorial.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.renegadebs.com/2009_01_01_archive.html&usg=__egTLbrqFlValePSL7dgUD9p6Mh4=&h=300&w=400&sz=16&hl=en&start=410&sig2=XNb6bUIalxfFcUnbg-Lbyg&zoom=1&tbnid=9iSxMd7NvEUknM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=144&ei=M3qkTY7GFdTPiAKgnu3JCA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dobama%2Blincoln%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ACAW_enUS394US394%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D531%26tbm%3Disch&chk=sbg&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=811&oei=DXqkTZLbOK3diAKp14z1CQ&page=17&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:410&tx=77&ty=56

                I know. You have the biggest claim of domestic war time power because of what is the very lowest threat to my life or way of life.

                But as a result it somehow literally stretches over every US citizen and is everywhere and forever, but only when you think it is necessary and primarily to conceal this power in the first place.

                But at the end of the day, because of your limitless claim, you can classify a much larger demographic of your country as potential enemies than Abraham Lincoln would have ever dared or ever thought was necessary (they were generally living normal lives outside the front lines).

                But when you (and us to be fair) have the luxury of poetically looking back at what was a harsh reality of people's lives being slaughtered to make this a better country, why politically upset all that political good will when you can engineer a superior claim to that official war time power and covertly apply your covert power to any citizen you want to destroy while forcing the people in front of any citizen you want to be a potential enemies to unknowingly accomplish and conceal a war time end.

                Because having this superior claim of war time power, while having to maintain the perception you don't -and that my rights are still intact- is what makes it so @!$%#in disgusting, perverted, and sadistic to the citizens and potential enemies you enlist to apply it.

                Because even during the civil war, the most basic rules of warfare -like having the ability to surrender-were generally maintained. And if they were not it was usually at the hands of the government and not citizens slaughtering other citizens because your organic pools of potential enemies don't want to become official enemies.

                So you basically have a superior claim of war time power, that runs over this whole country and can be covertly applied to any citizen you want, because of the very smallest threat to your citizens in the first place.

                For full disclosure, I did learn something new on the History channel this past weekend. After the Union soldiers (not we) won the war, Lincoln's wife told him he had to be careful because Washington DC was full of "enemies".

                He told his wife never to call any citizen that word again after what this country went through.

                That's where I made the connection AG Holder (Threat almost certainly equals enemy that triggers your war time power even though my fantasy intelligence trash spends all day engineering that classification to "ensure" political futures)

                Now it's politically popular to throw it around like the comic book your administration turned into because somehow the silly cycle got so destructive that one extraordinary failure (not the 30,000 that die from ordinary gun crime every year) and your shameful ass might not be President so long as the slaughter continues to keep the other half of this reality concealed.

                Going back to pre Penetta History Channel during our ordinary time. After the war was won and after Abraham Lincoln was seen bowing down to freed slaves in Richmond (probably the most powerful image I have ever seen) he returned back home. Prior to going to see My American Cousin his wife remembered that he felt a peace come over him that he said he never experienced before because most real historians think the war on terror is like him dusting off his dandruff -when it comes to my way of life -while the pivot and wrinkle he managed would set a positive trajectory for the ages only getting more positive as time moved forward.

                At the end of the day you are just one human that entered that office a far better man than your shameful predecessor but the difference between your perception and reality has made you one of the most dangerous Presidents in this nation's history. Because it is only your signature on every domestic war time order and that power should never be parametrised by an ignorant mob rule you let explode because those small pivots, one after anther, day after day, set the trajectory for a very different country.

                Despite the crimes your government committed against me and other US citizens, I am not a pig and do hope you find that peace one day but you have not earned it with the job you alone asked for.

                Because you are on track to look like shameful George on his last day, looking like he need a diaper to @!$%# in as he spins and spins all the slaughter he oversaw from the perspective of what can not be proved and what will never be known as opposed to truth of how needlesslyshameful and reckless he was. That is his business and yours, but after he convinces himself (which he always does with PaPa) the trajectory he set, and you exponentially pivoted, keeps moving us forward in a very @!$%#in nasty direction.

                http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newamericatoday.com/na/images/obama-lincoln-bible.jpg&imgrefurl=http://newamericatoday.com/na/2010/05/sorry-mr-president-but-socialism-is-not-in-the-bible.html&usg=__Hy8JREXXNLMcUVAiNuH1NI-Ckm0=&h=300&w=466&sz=33&hl=en&start=54&sig2=57-BJOx3obDyqNxo0aHlaQ&zoom=1&tbnid=H4WFI9EEpMbuZM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=145&ei=pending&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dobama%2Blincoln%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ACAW_enUS394US394%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D531%26tbm%3Disch0%2C770&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=252&vpy=256&dur=94&hovh=180&hovw=280&tx=118&ty=121&oei=-XikTfr_GMjfiAKryIH1CQ&page=3&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:54&biw=1345&bih=531

                So cheer the @!$%# up war criminal, coward, and traitor and go across the street and have a @!$%#in beer.

                Cause knowing history and being romantic about it should never get in the way of making it better because when the stakes are this high you are required to assume risk.

                Sometimes at the expense of your reputation like when Abraham Lincoln threatened to jump from a church roof because he was passionate about some banking regulation when he was a state rep in Illinois and it was probably those qualities that helped "them" win "that" was that "I" still benefit from today.

                Look, young Abe, he looks soffa king knots covert whores...

                http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1184/images/Lincoln_battlefield_crop_390W.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gunguys.com/%3Fp%3D3021&usg=__87Er4wduI64cDYl0nk56OHtEI-Q=&h=294&w=390&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&sig2=wbBvqMZ1svmnoy_4_AjieA&zoom=1&tbnid=BkYUt4jBJWe-VM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=163&ei=J4ikTY5fipTRAYvEzcwI&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlincoln,%2Bbattlefield%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ACAW_enUS394US394%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D531%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=594&vpy=80&dur=1529&hovh=195&hovw=259&tx=128&ty=123&oei=J4ikTY5fipTRAYvEzcwI&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

                  Reply#6 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:18 PM EDT

                  You have too much time on your hands.....

                    #6.1 - Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:20 PM EDT
                    Reply

                    i wish i had some 3-D glasses w/me right now!

                      Reply#7 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:20 PM EDT

                      Then you can spot the forced covert whores (ie, potential enemies) in my town. It would @!$%#in sicken you and everyone would hear OBL laugh (then our global pile of @!$%# would finally find him).

                      Safety and freedom Michelle so raise my taxes, bring them home, tell Biden to shut his blow hole up of what Penetta tells every American to think to keep his dumb ass of death row.

                        #7.1 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:43 PM EDT
                        Reply

                        I wish they had linked to us, since we're the ones making all of the 3D photos and donating them to the Library for the public domain.

                          Reply#8 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:15 PM EDT

                          And of course, MSNBC deleted my link, so you can search for us on Facebook at history3d or online at history3d dot us.

                            Reply#9 - Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:16 PM EDT

                            For those interested:

                            Crossing your eyes to see the middle "third" image in 3D only works for the first paired image, because it's backwards. (The righthand picture should be on the left.)

                            The other paired pictures can be seen in proper 3D by anyone who has taken the time to train their eyes to see paired 3D (or stereoscopic) images without aids (like stereo viewers). For those images, if you try viewing them with the crossed-eyes technique, you'll still see 3D, but it will be in reverse. You'll know it's a problem because the picture just won't "pop" correctly.

                            That's why I was so surprised to see the first picture not look right. But that's because I got interested in learning long ago how to look at stereoviews without glasses. So when I saw stuff that logic told me was in the background and it was ahead of things that were obviously in the foreground ... oops ... reversed images.

                            The crossed-eyes technique is a product of modern 3D picture entertainment books because it's the easier technique to learn quickly. And it's also the way to get eye strain pretty quickly because you're doing something abnormal with your eye muscles. On the other hand, using the traditional, non-aided technique is completely natural.

                              Reply#10 - Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:25 AM EDT
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