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Three men, clothed in warm winter coats and hats, with ice crystals and/or snow covering parts of their faces.
Prospectors returning to camp, 62 [degrees] below zero, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49559

The Keystone Review: Shedding Light on the Stereograph Business

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The following is a guest post by Leigh Gleason, Head, Reference Section, Prints & Photographs Division.

The Keystone Review was a magazine published by stereographic photograph publisher Keystone View Company and distributed to its sales staff, who sold Keystone’s stereo cards door-to-door. The magazine was published from 1898 through 1909, and the Library of Congress is the only place in the world where you can see a complete run of all issues. The Library recently digitized them, so now you can read them anywhere.

The Keystone Review, volume 1, number 2 (December 1898), page 2. From https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdc.00060099789/?sp=8&st=image

The magazine is heavily focused on salesmanship advice  for its sales force working throughout the country and world. If you dig into it, you’ll find that The Keystone Review is also peppered with interesting updates about the adventures of Keystone’s photographers. These aren’t in every issue, but there are quite a few such features.

Take, for example, the exploits of Will H. Leigh, the photographer that Keystone sent to Alaska to photograph the gold rush in 1898 and 1899, detailed in an article titled “A Trip through Alaska: The Keystone View Company’s Photographer in the Frozen North” in The Keystone Review [volume 1, number 12 (October 1899), pages 1-2]. Leigh is uncredited for his individual photographs for Keystone because Keystone often registered its copyright in the name of the company or its founder, B.L. Singley, who was seldom the actual photographer. In The Keystone Review, we gain a narrative understanding of the images Leigh produced. The article states that he produced over 700 negatives on his journey. Browsing through the Prints & Photographs Division’s LOT 11525-1, which contains Keystone View Company images of the Alaskan gold rush, we find approximately 170 of Leigh’s 700 images.

Below are a few highlighted images, each preceded by a quote from the “A Trip through Alaska” article:

“Mr. Leigh left San Francisco on May 13, ’98 on the steamer ‘Dora Blohm’ [sic] and after a very rough voyage of thirty-eight days he reached St. Michaels […]”

Ships and buildings are visible in background along water, with tents in foreground.
The “Dora Bluhm” at the Port of St. Michaels, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1898. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49543

“From Arctic City the party proceeded to the mouth of Allenkakett river and followed up that stream 120 miles […]”

Blocks of ice float on surface of water in foreground, while mountains are visible in the background, along with a line of pine trees at water line.
Huge ice flow on Allenkaket River, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49528

“He is the first stereoscopic photographer to make an extended trip through Alaska and to make stereoscopic photographs north of the Arctic Circle.”

Two men stand in front of small boat, holding stick from which large fish are suspended.
A morning catch, north of the Arctic Circle, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49517

“[…] they established their permanent winter quarters, and called the place Beaver City[.] Beaver City increased in size so that when winter set in it contained sixteen cabins with a population of about 100 people.”

About a half dozen men stand in snow in front of log cabin, dressed in warm winter clothing. Tall pine trees are visible in background.
Lowell cabin, Beaver City, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49657

“During the winter Mr. Leigh made trips with parties who transported the supplies to various camps and cabins […]”

Exterior view of general store and hotel at Sheep Camp, Alaska. People dressed in warm clothing are visible in foreground, and now-covered mountain slope is visible in background.
The leading store, Sheep Camp, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1898. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49569

“He experienced some difficulty in operating his camera during the cold weather – the coldest of which was experienced in February.”

Three men, clothed in warm winter coats and hats, with ice crystals and/or snow covering parts of their faces.
Prospectors returning to camp, 62 [degrees] below zero, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49559
“He left Beaver City May 24, ’99, and it took him thirty-three days to reach the Behring Sea.”

Men standing on boat at water's edge, with mountain visible in background.
Prospectors starting for home 1400 miles in interior of Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49530

“Although Mr. Leigh’s trip has been very successful from a photographic standpoint, he does not care to return to Alaska and search for gold, as it is his opinion that more gold is expended by prospecting parties on outfits, transportation, etc., than is taken from the mines.”

Two people standing in grass in foreground, one holding a shovel and the other holding a bowl with liquid in it. Both figures are where protective mesh head coverings.
Placer mining near the Yukon River, Alaska. Photograph by Keystone View Company, 1898. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s49551

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