Olive Jane Lamb Questers
The Olive Jane Lamb Questers met April 14 at the home of Betty Peterson in Baxter. President Linda Kirchhoff presided over the meeting. New officers for 2016-2017 will be elected at the May meeting.
Ernie Rairdin from Cedar Rapids, accompanied by his wife, gave a very informative program on stereoscopes. Ernie was interested at the age of 8 in taking pictures. His dad was a photographer and his son is currently a photographer. Stereographs, an early form of three-dimensional photographs, were a major vehicle for entertainment in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Stereographs were also used for journalistic reporting on many of the current events of the period, parades, disasters and political events. The stereograph placed on cardboard were two almost identical photographs, side by side, to be viewed with a stereoscope. When viewed through a stereoscope, the photograph appeared three-dimensional. Its affordability and availability made stereography a wide spread phenomenon spanning more than 60 years.
Ernie brought several viewmasters to look through to view cards of pictures taken, and old cameras to look at. Ernie is a political stereographer and has taken pictures of the current presidential candidates from meetings around Iowa. He put the picture of the candidate and himself on business cards that he passed around to the group to pick a candidate card and take with them
Refreshments were served by the hostess at the conclusion of the program.