| Fairmount Park, Philadelphia |
|
The stereo card above shows the camera obscura building in Fairmount
Park in Philadelphia c. 1870. It is not in the good condition we expect
of cards we collect but the subject is so interesting that we made an
exception. It shows a camera obscura building typical of the type found
in parks of the period. The round viewing table can be seen through
the open door. The sign over the door reads "CAMERA OBSCURA ADMITTANCE
10CTS"
To the right is a close up of the sign by the door. With enhanced contrast
it reads "MAGIC MIRROR OF LIFE - FAIRMOUNT PARK IN MINIATURE - GLIMPSE
A FAIRY LAND". |
This sign gave the title to our web site and the portable
tent camera obscura we designed and built. |
| Central Park, New York City |
The stereo card above of Central Park in New York City
is in excellent condition. It shows a camera obscura building similar
to the one above. We know that a building of this type was located
in the park in the 1870s and are searching for references to its location
and the years in which it operated.
The trade card on the right features a camera obscura
building with the round table visible through the door. It states,
as seen in the enlarged view at the lower right "Located in Central
Park, representing a Perfect Living Pictures of all Surrounding Objects".
Ironically the illustration does not seem to match the building in
the stereo above but is much more like the Fairmount Park camera obscura
at the top of this page and the view of Melville Garden
below. Perhaps it was a generic illustration.
|
|
 |
The print on the left is from the 1877 Frank
Leslie's Popular Monthly showing a scene inside the Central Park camera
obscura. We have only the illustration and the text on its back and not
the balance of the article.We are still searching for the magazine which
was identified as the 1877 holiday issue in the hope that the rest of the
article will answer some of our questions. |
 |
We have no photographs or prints in our
collection that show the location of the camera obscura in the park.
We have been shown
a wonderful
carte-de-visite in another collection that shows the little building
on a rise above Bethesda Terrace. We continue to look for a view that
shows the
location. We have an E & HT Anthony stereo view of the terrace
but it appears to have been made before the camera obscura was added.
On the left the camera obscura has been digitally added in the approximate
position we have seen in the carte-de-visite. |
| Downer
Landing, Melville Garden, Massachusetts c. 1880 |
