Glen Ellis Falls 1855 - 1875

The Kilburn Brothers created this stereograph of Glen Ellis Falls, a popular tourist destination in New Hampshire's White Mountains, during a time of significant industrial expansion and growing interest in landscape photography. Stereographs like this one played a role in shaping cultural perceptions of nature and wilderness. As urbanization increased, images of untouched landscapes offered a sense of escape and nostalgia for a simpler, more natural past. But this yearning was often at odds with the realities of land use and resource extraction during this period. It’s interesting to consider how these images contributed to both the preservation and exploitation of natural spaces, even as they ignored the presence and history of Indigenous people. The stereograph invites us to reflect on our own relationship with nature. What do we seek when we look at images like this, and what responsibilities do we have to the landscapes they depict?