The National Stereoscopic Association, which celebrates all things 3D, holds an annual convention for its members each summer in an American city.
This year the 49th event took place in Buffalo in upstate New York, and I was pleased to attend and present my latest research on the influence of stereoscopy on early press photography.
“Sessions of the History of Stereoscopic Photography IV” occupied a whole morning and a total of 7 speakers covered a range of topics.
These included presentations on Carleton Watkins, Napoleon III, Arizona, George Barker, Underwood & Underwood and the Banjo.
After speaking at conferences in the UK, it was my first overseas presentation to an international audience made up of attendees from all over the world.
My talk, “Stereoscopic Pioneer: James Edward Ellam and the Press Photo Revolution,” looked at the path followed by one amateur stereographer from Yorkshire to Fleet Street where he enjoyed a successful career as a press photographer.
Regular readers of this blog will recognise the name James Edward Ellam from an earlier post (April 28, 2023: Press Photo Pioneer).
However, my 3D-Con talk was greatly informed by a recent discovery I made of a cache of Ellam stereos on a well-known auction website. They largely date from his time in the Yorkshire town of Yarm in the 1890s.
Many bore his name, “J.E. Ellam,” on printed stickers alongside his handwritten titles on the verso.
It’s handwriting that I recognised from various copyright forms I have seen in recent years in the National Archives at Kew that had been filled out and signed by him.
Most exciting of all was that two of the stereos indicated links with Underwood & Underwood with whom he had a productive working relationship as his stereos for U&U featuring Queen Victoria, King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra, and Pope Pius X testify.
Given that there are around 30 stereos, it seems that September offers an ideal opportunity to share these Ellam images day-by-day via this blog with a few new insights that I have learned by viewing them more closely.
Watch this space!
Pressphotoman 
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