Seeing Double: Museum Showcases History In 3D

In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is one of four Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission sites offering a unique serial exhibit showcasing the Commonwealth’s rich industrial history through antique stereo photography.

“Seeing Double: Pennsylvania’s Industrial Revolution in 3D” is being hosted jointly by these sites on the PHMC’s Industrial Heritage Trail: the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg; the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum, Scranton; Drake Well Museum & Park, Titusville; and the Cornwall Iron Furnace, Cornwall. Each museum shows a component of the exhibit tailored to its individual historical theme.

The “Seeing Double” exhibit, curated by Dr. Richard Healey from his 2023 show at the Royal Geographical Society in London. opens on Saturday, April 18 and will run throughout the summer.  Dr. Healey will present a virtual introduction to the exhibit from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 18, via Zoom.  The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s component of “Seeing Double” will be displayed in the second floor gallery and is included in the regular Museum admission.

A distinguished British geographer at the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Healey has dedicated much of his research to Pennsylvania’s historic rail, iron, oil and anthracite coal industries. Over the years, he cultivated a sizable collection of 19th and 20th century stereo views — popular, inexpensive photographic novelties that originally offered three-dimensional images through a hand-held stereoscope.

To bring these rare glimpses of the Commonwealth’s industrial past to a modern museum audience, Dr. Healey transformed the antique stereo views into anaglyphs. Exhibit-goers will use red and blue offset glasses — made popular by 3D movies in the 1970s — to step back in time and experience a historical overview of the industries that built Pennsylvania.