Stereoscopic Anatomy: The Human Body in Three Dimensions.

Several years ago the museum acquired an excellent boxed set of stereocards from a series entitled "Edinburgh University Stereoscopic Anatomy". This set, printed by the Imperial Publishing Company of New York in 1910, consists of 50 stereocard images of the Pelvis and Thorax regions of the body, and is part of a master set of 5 volumes covering each area of the human body. The images are rather shocking; each having been photographed directly from a dissected human body using a special stereoscopic camera.

The cards proved so popular with HospitalMuseum visitors that the staff conservator soon became concerned for the safety of the set: while visitors were instructed to handle the cards with white cotton gloves that were provided, they still suffered the occasional mishap, and the exposure to light was also feared to have an adverse effect on the photos. We soon thereafter conceived of a solution to the problem and means by which visitors could take home a piece of the museum by using a computer to convert several of the images into red and blue anaglyphs that, when viewed with traditional "3D" glasses, reproduced the dimensional effect of the original stereocards. They were sold in the museum's gift shop as a set of six offset printed cards tucked into a specially designed offset printed cardstock envelope along with a pair of 3D glasses.

Front of the 3D souvenir pack.

Back of the 3D souvenir pack.

Tragically, as the hospitalmuseum was in the process of relocating from Chicago to Manhattan, the case holding the entire stock of the 3D sets was accidentally dropped into a mud puddle by a careless preparator, damaging all but 3 or 4 sets beyond repair. I've decided it might be interesting to post the images here... if anyone has a set of 3D glasses lying around, have a look... im not sure whether the images will "pop" on the computer screen as they do in real life, though.







*UPDATE 10/31/2010* This morning I received a lovely note from a fellow in the London area who, prior to renovating his attic, was forced to clear it of many years of interesting accumulations, among them a complete first edition set of Edinburgh University Stereoscopic Anatomy cards. The really neat thing about his discovery is that it included the optical viewer that was originally supplied with the set. HospitalMuseum visitors have become accustomed to viewing our little collection of images through a Victorian-era stereopticon, which certainly works fine but isn't original to the set; I'm very fond of the sleek, industrial aesthetic of the original optical viewer, and Im sure that focusing knob aids greatly in putting the images in sharp focus! Thanks so much for sharing, Steven! By the way, the whole set is for sale... if owning a big chunk of anatomical history interests you please send me a note and I will forward it to the owner!
*images below are reprinted here with permission of the owner; artifacts pictured below are not in the HospitalMuseum collection.









Edinburgh University Stereoscopic Anatomy. Imperial Publishing Company, New York. 1910. 50 card stereocard set. HM3709.4. Copyrighted Image.

The Human Interior, Official NMHPH Souvenir. Paul Baxendale. 2002. Offset printed cards and 3D glasses. HM3809.4. Copyrighted Images.