Walking in a Winter Wonderland

The sun is shining and the snow is sparkling outside the Scott County Historical Society museum. After several days of fog, folks are out on the street enjoying the snow. A sunny day in winter is delightful, whether you are sledding outside or holed up inside where it is warm. Below, find a selection of seasonal photographs from the SCHS collections. Enjoy the winter!

Downtown Shakopee after a blizzard. C.J. Stunk (seen holding a shovel) and several other men are standing on a shoveled First Ave. Handwritten in pencil on the backside of the image is “Sunday March 12th – 1899. 10 am.

Photograph of downtown Shakopee after a March snowstorm. The photo shows First Avenue looking southeast. 1899.

Two men moving logs on North Meridian Street in Belle Plaine. 

Thomas O’Connor delivering mail in Belle Plaine. 1905

Men clearing snow from the roads in Shakopee. 1905.

Postcard of Pond’s Mill in Shakopee during the winter. The card is addressed to Miss Clara Logenfeif of Shakopee but is unused.  1908.

Winter street scene in New Prague, Minnesota, probably a market day. 1914.

The Coller family standing outside their downtown Shakopee home. Seen from left to right are Julius Coller, I, Coe Coller and Julius Coller, II, and their dog (name unknown). 1914.

Holiday decorations inside a Shakopee home. 1915

Women ice skating in Shakopee, most likely on the Minnesota river. 1920.

The exterior of 434 South Lewis Street in Shakopee after a snowstorm. 1927. 

Two children wearing winter coats in Belle Plaine. 1928.

 Harry Weldon playing guitar with his dog during winter. 1933.

Arthur Bohnsack with two of his children, Arlyn and June standing in front of their new Chevorlet. Taken in St. Patrick MN. 1940.

Ray and Loretta (Mamer) Robel of Prior Lake sitting in their living room on Christmas. 1950.

Snowy road after a blizzard in Shakopee. 1950.

Christmas card featuring the Pekarna boys. 1954.

LeRoy Lebens shoveling snow outside his Fifth Avenue home in Shakopee. 1955.

Two Shakopee High School students in winter finery. 1958.

Cat in the snow. Shakopee 1959.

Nevins family holiday decorations, 1960

Clark family Christmas photo. 1963

The Minnesota River outside Shakopee. 1965.

Johnson family Christmas photo. 1970

Downtown Shakopee block with piles of snow. Date unknown.

Enjoy the winter!

Compiled by Rose James, SCHS Program Manager

The Magic of the Stereoscope

We recently had a stereoscope and a few slides donated to our education programs. If you are unfamiliar with stereoscopes, they look like an old fashioned viewfinder, with a handle on the bottom and a stick coming out of the front. Slide a card into the slot, adjust the distance, and presto: you are treated to a 3D scene of a fairy tale or far away land.

Children love stereoscopes. They have the allure of seeming old and valuable, combined with the modern magic of 3D technology. In essence, stereoscopes were the virtual reality headsets of the Victorian age and they have maintained the ability to captivate audiences of today. Bring a stereoscope into a room full of first graders and they will eagerly gather around. The lucky student who gets the device will methodically look at slide after slide, accidentally smacking their neighbors with the handle as they remain lost in the world of yesteryear. This will continue until the pleas of their classmates to take a turn win out, and the stereoscope is transferred into another set of hands. Even safely in my thirties, I couldn’t resist looking at every slide that accompanied the stereoscope that was brought in last week.

For all of their glamour, stereoscopes are fairly simple. We humans have two eyes, each in a slightly different place. Each eye takes in our world at a different angle, and our agile brains combine those views into one sensible image. In other words, we always have stereoscopic vision. It gives us our ability to perceive the world in three dimensions. Without this knack, it would be very challenging to drive, catch a softball, or even thread a needle.

When you look through a Victorian stereoscope, you are viewing a card called a stereograph on which two slightly different photographs of the same scene are printed. The stereoscope forces each eye to take the pictures in through a separate glass lens. These lens are focused inward, forcing your eyes to combine the images at a single point. Add in our brain’s natural 3D powers, and voila: you see an illusion of depth.

Stereoscopes were one of the great fads of the past. The ability to create a stereoscopic illusion was first documented in 1838 by the British scientist Charles Wheatstone. His writings on the ocular trick were interesting, but not much was done with them for another decade. Then, scientist David Brewster refined the design, crafting a hand-held device you could raise to your eyes. This device, combined with the newfangled invention of photography, created a stereoscopic fad that swept the world. By 1856, the London Stereoscopic Company had a catalog of over 10,000 stereograph cards available for purchase. Six years later, their listings had grown to over a million.

Stereoscopes were marketed as a way to bring families together. Advertisements showed grandchildren and their elders smiling as they enjoyed their parlor stereoscopes. They were also billed as a way to view the mysteries and wonders of the world without leaving the comfort of your living room. In a time without the internet, televisions, and even widespread to access volumes of photography, the stereoscope must have truly seemed like a doorway to the globe.

These wonders did not stay in the home. By the late 1800s, stereoscopes were being aggressively marketed to schools. Like the educational technology and gaming companies of today, stereoscopes were pitched as a way to make the doldrums of learning adventurous and fun to pupils. It was said that by learning through a stereoscope, the chaotic or unfocused child would be shielded from the distractions of the classroom. The American stereoscope company Keystone developed a stereoscope based curriculum known as the Keystone system. Soon, the company claimed that every American city over 50,000 was using the Keystone system to teach pupils in their public schools.

As always, some spectators of the stereoscope fad were alarmed. They worried that the stereoscope would replace books, and students would come out of school only able to learn through a series of images rather than mastering the complex skills of reading and writing.

Eventually the fad waned. This was not due to the consternation of educational naysayers, but because it was replaced by a new parlor novelty: the radio.  In spite of this, the technology was not left behind in this craze of the past. Stereoscopic vision has periodically resurfaced in trends, from the red and blue 3D movie glasses of the 1950s, the headache-inducing magic eye books in the 1990s, and finally in the 3D video games of today. The magic of stereoscopic vision seems here to stay.

At the Scott County Historical Society our collections feature many stereographs, the dual image cards that make the magic of stereoscopes appear. Some were owned by county residents, transporting them to far away places. Others show scenes closer to home depicting neighbors or local buildings. Still others tell scandalous stories or humorous tales. If you are interested in trying a stereoscope for yourself, stop by and ask! We will pull it from it’s home in the education closet, and give you the chance to step into another world.

Below are a few of the stereographs that have a home in the SCHS Collections.

Black and white albumen stereograph showing the interior of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Shakopee. 1893

Black and white stereograph of a portion of the Grand Canyon at Yellowstone National Park. The stereograph is titled “A More Enchanting Wonder Nature Never Knew – Grand Canyon of the Yellostone National Park, Wyo., U. S. A.”. Appx. 1900.

Black and white stereograph of a man and a woman in an office. The woman is sitting at a desk, the man is sitting at a roll-top desk next to the woman. The man has one arm around the woman’s shoulders and both are looking up in surprise. A third woman, presumably the man’s wife, is standing at the door. She is angry at having caught the couple together and is preparing to throw her hand fan at them.The scene is staged and is one is a series of slightly salacious stereographs. The piece is titled “The Unexpected Always Happens.” Appx 1900

Colorized stereograph showing the Horikiri Iris Garden in Japan. Appx, 1900

Colorized stereograph showing the Red Room in the White House. Appx 1900

Black and white albumen stereograph of Henrietta Deutsch and Julius Coller, II, residents of Scott County. Handwritten in pencil on the backside of the image is “Dec 10 – 1913/Henrietta Deutsch/Jac Coller”

Black and white stereograph showing a comical scene of a woman preparing to shave a man’s face. The scene is staged. The piece is titled “The “New Woman” Barber.” Appx 1900

Written by Rose James, SCHS Program Manager

Images of Football in Scott County

With the Super Bowl in Minneapolis this weekend, what better occasion could there be to share some historical photographs of football in Scott County from our collection? Pictures that begin around 1890 show an interesting progression of equipment, from padded body suits with a simple leather cap to the more recognizable shoulder pads and hard helmets with facemasks we’re familiar with today. Many of the later images were captured by LeRoy Lebens as part of his work as the official photographer for the Waniyetu Shakopee High School Yearbook, which are a part of his larger collection we are currently inventorying here at SCHS. If you’re interested in learning more about sports in Scott County or the LeRoy Lebens photo collection, come by and see us at the Scott County Historical Society!

1890- Frank Dierberger of Shakopee

1905 Rock Spring Team- George Vierling, Reno Ketterer, Ed V. Mertz, Math Klinkhammer, Joseph R. Witt, Emil Strehlow

1914 Belle Plaine Minnesota Valley Champion Team- Lorenz Woods, Bill Crahan, Emmett O’Neill, James McDevitt, Martin Donovan, George Brown, Mike Pendy, Tom Sheehan, Leo Pendy, Herman Beutow, Bob White and John Weibeler

1922- Leo Hartmann of Shakopee High School

1922 Shakopee High School Team

1936 Shakopee High School Team

1939 Shakopee High School Team

1939 Shakopee High School Team

1942 Shakopee High School Program

1955 Shakopee High School

1958 Shakopee High School

1958 Shakopee High School

Shakopee “Small Fry” League 1955-1960

Shakopee “Small Fry” League 1955-1960