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Data For Exploration Data packages Stereograph Card Images Data Package
The Stereograph Card dataset consists of 39,526 stereograph card images from the 1850s through 1924, a subset of what was available online in the collection on loc.gov in August 2022.
Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image, usually when viewed through a stereoscope. The Prints & Photographs Division's holdings include images produced from the 1850s to the 1940s, with the bulk of the collection dating between 1870 and 1920. Please note that terminology in historical materials and in Library descriptions does not always match the language preferred by members of the communities depicted, and may include negative stereotypes or words that offend.
Metadata | Metadata formats | Data files |
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39,532 records | .csv, json | 39,526 .jpg files |
Included in this data package is comprehensive documentation of source data or collection provenance, the contents of the data package, and how the data package was created. Here are some particular sections of interest as well as a link to the full documentation:
There are two main options for accessing and using this data package: (1) Directly downloading files from this page and (2) using Python for more advanced usage.
The following list outlines the contents of this data package. Many of the individual files inside the data package are linked directly on this page which you can download and immediately use. Zipped files are available for bulk download of the entire or parts of the data package.
Sample the data |
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Download the documentation |
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Download the metadata |
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Download the digitized stereographs |
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While direct downloads are more convenient for most activities, users with familiarity with writing Python can perform more advanced and complex tasks programmatically.
For your convenience we developed a number of Jupyter Notebooks to help get you started.
View the Python notebook for this data package
For bulk downloads, refer to this Python script for downloading files in bulk . Sample commands for this data package:
Download all images in this package
python bulk_download.py --package "https://data.labs.loc.gov/stereographs/"
--out "output/stereographs/"
Source collection |
The image files in this dataset are derived from the Stereograph Cards collection on loc.gov. Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image, usually when viewed through a stereoscope. The Prints & Photographs Division's holdings include images produced from the 1850s to the 1940s, with the bulk of the collection dating between 1870 and 1920. |
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Rights statement | The Library's stereograph collection includes thousands of photographs submitted for copyright protection. Those that were copyrighted or published in the U.S. more than 95 years ago are in the public domain because the copyright has expired. The collection also includes images not submitted for copyright that may not have been published. The term of copyright for unpublished images is the life of the creator plus 70 years. For unpublished anonymous works and works where the death date of the creator is not known, the copyright term is 120 years from the date of creation. |
Date created | 2022-10-05 |
Date updated | 2024-04-03 |
Creators & contributors |
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Cite this dataset |
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Curatorial questions | For curatorial questions about the content of the collection or technical questions about the dataset formats and composition, please contact the Prints and Photographs Division via the Library's Ask a Librarian service at https://ask.loc.gov/prints-photographs . |
Access questions | For questions and technical issues about download and access, please submit a ticket on Github or email the LC Labs Team at [email protected] . |