Featured The coolest stereoscope collection! 1883 Houses + Owners

I found this set of 6 stereoscope cards in a collection and I bought them. They are the large size cards and the photo quality is incredible. On the back of one card it is noted that they were taken in 1883. All of the photos consist of a Residence with each family standing outside in front of their home. These were some beautiful houses and the families must have been proud to own them. Each card also notes the family name at the bottom of the photograph. They were taken by J.W. Miller a photographer in the 1870s and 1880s.

 

My favorite image, love the tricycle! It's a delight to view it in a stereoscope!! A single image doesn't do it justice. Residence of Jas. Lockwood

 

The biggest house of them all, L.J. Adam M.D. he was a doctor! That would explain the giant home. Also, are those people looking out of the basement windows????

 

Cool pictures.

 

depends on how good he was. might be the mortuary...

 

Any indication of what town the houses are in?

 

Looks like it says Anamosa and Vicinity on one side. Anamosa Iowa on the other.

 

The Directory of Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide includes an entry for Jacob W. (J.W.) Miller, who lived 1841-1907. They have him working in Anamosa until at least 1880. These were taken later, and would have been a good addition to any supplement to that book!

Here is a link to a page that entry in Google Books.
https://books.google.com/books?id=U...onepage&q=anamosa iowa "j. w. miller"&f=false

 

The basement was generally where the staff lived and worked.

 

Anamosa, Iowa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamosa,_Iowa

Population 5533 in 2010. These cards may be relatively uncommon since Anamosa was never a very large town and the surrounding county isn't very populated either. A rural agricultural area.

Really cool! Thanks for posting them.

 

According to wiki
Artist Grant Wood was from there.

 

I’m a big convert to stereoscope images - the most fun you can have without batteries! If Spartcom5 could upload individual images of each card, you can take a screen shot if you have a tablet and then look at the images on your tablet using your stereoscope (takes a bit of practise). You can also do this with other rare images that museums have online that you are never likely to get hold of. Great find Spartcom5!