From Dead Media Archive The Viewmaster is a personal stereo
camera, popularized in contemporary culture as a children's toy
for viewing 3-D images. It has enjoyed a variety of uses since
its introduction in 1939, ranging from military training to
tourist memorabilia. While its applications have changed in the
seven decades it has been produced, the technology has largely
remained the same, circumventing some issues of compatibility.
The first Viewmaster reels had blue outer circles and gold
centers. Around 1940, production companies began making reels
blue on the back side, and orange or tan on the front side. Only
one year later, brown viewmaster reels became popular. Reels
finally transitioned to white, the color that still sticks
today. Despite all of these aesthetic adjustments, a reel from
1939 could still be used in a contemporary model and vice versa.
The Viewmaster device began when William Gruber developed a
camera capable of taking stereo photographs and drew the support
of Harold Graves, president