Beginning around 1865, as the fledgling art and science of photography began to appear in cities and towns across the United States, a small group of photographers, using new methods and equipment developed a few years before in Europe, began producing and offering for sale stereographic views of the people, places, and events that made up daily life in the then nearly 40-year-old city of Grand Rapids. These photographic views were unlike others
that had preceded them and when viewed using a special device, they presented a detailed, three-dimensional portrait of the young city. Once...