Foreign stereographers / publishers - Keystone
The Keystone View Company was launched in 1892 by B. L.
Singley of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Singley, who was initially an amateur
photographer, became a professional and authored all the Keystone
negatives until 1897 [Darrah 1997, p. 49]. Much like Underwood & Underwood (but
on a lower scale during the late 1890's), Keystone expanded by investing on
publishing facilities and aggressive marketing techniques. The company also
moved into the boxed set business, with an emphasis on the educational
area. The Keystone Educational Department played a fundamental role in the
success of the company in the later period, and their products were used in
many United
States public schools. Between the early 1900's and approximately 1910, Keystone's commercial strategy converted it into the largest stereoscopic company in the world. They acquired the negative files of their major competitors, such as Underwood & Underwood, B. W. Kilburn, H. C. White, and T. W. Ingersoll. U&U and H. C. White images that were later published by Keystone are particularly easy to identify, since the negative reference number is accompanied by a letter indicating the provenance of the image (V: Underwood & Underwood; W: H. C. White). The company started publishing boxed sets of the world in the 1920's, expanding this sector until a 1200-card set was issued in 1931. This set was complemented by an excellent guide book published by Burton Holmes, a well-known travel lecturer of his time. The Keystone Travel Club magazine (Around the World with Burton Holmes) used to introduce him as "America's premier traveller who serves as our personal guide". The regular production of Keystone stereoviews ceased in 1939, but the factory was closed only in 1976. With a trade list of more than 43,000 titles, the total number of negatives in the possession of the company has been estimated as from "likely being in the range of 100,000 to 200,000" [Treadwell 1999, p. 2] to "more than two million" [Darrah 1997, p. 50]. Whatever the total number, the Keystone's archives are undoubtedly an invaluable treasure that now belongs to the California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside [Keystone 2003]. The Keystone-Mast Collection database is searchable via the web and enables access to a growing number of surprising images, many of which were never produced commercially (a search by "portugal" listed 115 images on June 10th, 2003). The image illustrated on the right was shot by one of the company's main photographers, George Lewis [Lewis 2003], on August 18th, 1931, during his visit to Oporto. The Keystone View Company series listed in relation to Portugal are the
following: Further reading: [Darrah 1997] [Lewis 2003] [Keystone 2003] [Treadwell 1999] |
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ANTIQUE STEREOVIEWS OF PORTUGAL
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