Keystone View Company Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Keystone Company View Papers, Ms2010-052, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
0.2 Cubic Feet 1 box
Creator:
Keystone View Company
Abstract:
The collection contains correspondence between Keystone View Company management and salesmen in the field, predominantly W. W. Barnhart. The collection also includes blank order forms.
Language:
The material in the collection are in English.
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Keystone Company View Papers, Ms2010-052, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists predominantly of correspondence by between salesmen in the field and the management of the Keystone View Company from 1903-1906, 1908.

Most of the letters are written to and from Walter W. Barnhart and include information on customers and accounts, new products, and company business. The collection also contains a single folder of blank order forms (referenced in some of the correspondence), purchase receipts, and two of Barnhart's draft cards (1918).

Biographical / historical:

The Keystone View Company was a major distributor of stereographic images, and was located in Meadville, Pennsylvania. From 1892 through 1963 Keystone produced and distributed both educational and comic/sentimental stereoviews and stereoscopes. The Company primarily marketed themselves to schools in the early twentieth century. As of 1905 the Company was the world's largest stereographic company.

Dozens of staff photographers were employed in the early 1900s. Also in the early 1900s, when stereoviewing was declining and other companies were in trouble, Keystone bought their stocks and incorporated them into their own holdings. Notable amongst many such purchases were the huge and varied inventories of B. W. Kilburn, the H. C. White Company, and Underwood & Underwood. As a result, Keystone claimed to have had some 2 million negatives by the mid-1930s.

By the 1920s the Keystone Company was the sole surviving major producer of conventional card-mounted views anywhere in the world. They had offices in London, Paris, Sidney, Capetown, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Part of this prominence was derived from the sale of World War I stereograph sets, as Keystone was one of the only publishers to secure permission to photograph battlefields and military operations.

Acquisition information:
The Keystone View Company Papers were purchased by Special Collections in March 2010.
Processing information:

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Keystone View Company Papers commenced and was completed in July 2010.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized by material type. Correspondence folders are in chronological order.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard