Midcentury Stereopanorama: See the 1950s in Astonishing 3-D

Experience the incredible "VR of the 1950s." As featured in NYTimes, Atlas Obscura and WNYC.

Hold the viewer to your eyes, press the button to illuminate the 3-D Kodachrome slide and be transported back in time. Discover the amazing and forgotten technology enthusiasts call “the virtual reality of the 1950s.”

Introduced in 1947, the Stereo Realist camera and viewer brought full-color 3-D photography with astonishing realism to the masses. The craze peaked in popularity in the mid-1950s — reaching hundreds of thousands of American homes — then slowly disappeared.

Emmy-winning writer Eric Drysdale has been collecting these uncanny, immersive snapshots for nearly 30 years. In this intimate salon you’ll learn about the science and history behind the technology, then see the very best of his collection in high-quality, fully-restored vintage viewers– the way they were meant to be seen.

You’ll feel almost as if you’re there (and then) as you explore every aspect of post-war American life: work and play; home and travel; city, suburb and country. Part art, part history, part science, part séance. It’s the closest to time travel you’re likely to experience.