The Brady Stewart Collection – Gift Ideas for the Holidays

Yes, it’s that time of the year again!  Are you having trouble deciding on a gift for that special person or for a family member that’s so hard to buy for?  The Brady Stewart Collection spans the 20th Century and includes professionally created photographs of the following areas:

Eiben and Irr

1)  20th Century Advertising and Products

2) Pittsburgh-area Architecture, Buildings & Churches

3) 20th Century Children at play

4) Vacationing at Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua in the 1900s

5) Pittsburgh-area Manufacturing and the Military

6) 20th Century Transportation; Cars, Boats, Trains and more

7) Pittsburgh-area Street Scenes: the Pittsburgh Skyline and neighborhoods

8) 20th Century People and Lifestyles

9) Pittsburgh-Area Sports

Roberto Clemente

At this writing, some of the most popular orders are:  Any Roberto Clemente Photograph, the Pittsburgh Skyline, Forbes Field, various Pittsburgh Buildings that are gone (Civic Arena, Jenkins Arcade), various Pittsburgh businesses that are gone (i.e. Brass Rail, Palmers Restaurant, Eiben and Irr etc.)

If you can not find one you like within the 1,000+ images in the archives, we may have the one you want within the archives that are yet to be digitized.  We have over 2,000 left to be digitized and uploaded to our web site.

We can create prints from 5″x7″ up to 50″x60″ and have it done before the holidays.  We have framing options but it might be

South Hills Junction

better to give a print in a box and let him and/or her decide on how they want it framed after the holidays.

Please have a a very happy and safe holidays from all of us at Brady Stewart Studio and thank you for making our Blog and Web Site so popular… over 12,300 and counting!

Civic Arena with roof open

Michael Stewart

Brady Stewart Collection images can be viewed at http://bradystewartphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-list. You can also view information on Brady Stewart and Brady Stewart Studio at http://www.bradystewartphoto.com/.  All images in the blog and archival web site are copyrighted by Brady Stewart Studio Inc.  If you are interested in downloading an image or purchasing a print, please contact Brady Stewart Studio via phone(412.999.0538) or email bstewartphoto@aol.com.

Pittsburgh Photo Club

On October 18th, I gave a presentation at a monthly meeting of the Photographic Section, the Academy of Science and Art of

Magic Lantern Slides

Pittsburgh www.pghphoto.org/.  A few members of the group came to my presentation at the Mount Lebanon Historical Society in June and asked if I would like to speak about Lantern Slides in an upcoming meeting. Founded in 1885, my grandfather was a long-time member of the Academy and was Director of Lantern  Slides from 1907 – 1912.While developing the Lantern Slide presentation, I learned a great deal about the history of Lantern Slides. During the 1900 century, Lantern Slides were the primary entertainment medium for individuals, businesses, educational institutions, governments along with entertainers.

1) Individuals:  Similar to how we used 35mm slides for over 50 years, individuals took photographs while on vacation and had a local company produce lantern slides so they could show off to their friends, family and neighbors

2) Businesses:  Similar to how businesses used 35mm slides and overhead transparencies, Companies would use lantern slides to introduce new products, educate employees, presentations for sales people and to solicit venture funding.

3) Educational Institutions & Museums:  For over 100 years, colleges and secondary schools used lantern slides to educate their students on various subject matter; history, geography, marketing etc.  Museums used lantern slides to show donors how their money was spent on expeditions; i.e. South Pole and Mount Everest, and how the museum would like to spend their money!

4) Governments:  Great Britain used lantern slides for over 200 years to show nobility and other influential citizens about the British Empire.  When officials visited South Africa, India, Hong Kong and other colonies, they would take photographs and have a British firm create the lantern slides for the presentations.

5) Artists and Entertainers:  Throughout the 19th century, entrepreneurs traveled throughout Europe and America using Lantern Slides to sell products and services along with entertaining the masses.  The most frequently requested presentations were Horror, Comedy and War stories.  Interesting, during the early part of the 20th century, the most requested motion pictures were Comedy, War and Horror movies!

The presentation at the Academy was very special for me since the lantern slides I used during the meeting were the same my grandfather used for the same meeting 100 years earlier!  Yes, my grandfather made a Lantern Slide presentation to the Photographic Section, the Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburgh in October 1911.  My grandfather took the photographs, created the lantern slides and hand-colored them for the meeting.  And to take a step back, a lantern slide is created by taking a photographic negative and sandwiching it together with another unexposed photographic negative to create a positive & transparent image. Once sandwiched, the negatives are exposed to light and processed in photographic developer. Once processed and dried, color can be added to the emulsion side of the “positive” with special dyes… it is a very time-consuming process.

Please take your time viewing the hand-colored lantern slides (http://bradystewartphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Hand-colored-Positive-Slides/G0000cPWtCKzQbiI/), they are special.

Brady Stewart Collection images can be viewed at http://bradystewartphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-list.  You can also view information on Brady Stewart and Brady Stewart Studio at http://www.bradystewartphoto.com/.  All images in the blog and web site are copyrighted by Brady Stewart Studio Inc.  If you are interested in downloading an image or to purchase a print, please contact Brady Stewart Studio by phone (724.554.9813) or email bstewartphoto@aol.com.