Archives at Cornell

Stereoscopic views of Ottoman Palestine and Jerusalem

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 8792

Content Description

Stereoscopic photographs of urban and rural scenes from Palestine, including Hebron, Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethlehem, the Valley of Kedron, and the Village of Siloam, many depicting the sites of events in the Bible. The scenes include images of social life, native and local people in their customary dress, and significant buildings.

Dates

1896 - 1900

Creator

Underwood & Underwood (Organization)

Language of Materials

Captions on the verso of the stereo cards are in English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, and Dutch.

Biographical / Historical

Underwood & Underwood was an early producer and distributor of stereoscopic and other photographic images, and later pioneered in the field of news bureau photography. The company was founded in 1881 in Ottawa, Kansas, by two brothers, Elmer Underwood (1859-1947) and Bert Elias Underwood (1862-1943). They moved to Baltimore, and then to New York City in 1887. They developed a selling system involving thorough canvassing done by college students. By 1901, Underwood & Underwood was publishing 25,000 stereographs per day. Around 1900, the firm introduced boxed sets with specific themes, such as education and religion, and travel sets depicting popular tourist areas of the world.