The Great War in Stereoviews

Presko Binocular Company

Little direct information is available on Presko, but examination of its images suggest the company was founded by E. W. Kelley and that he sold rights to those images to the Keystone View Company about 1919.

The earliest Presko Binocular Company stereograph is dated 1900, with the copyright retained by William H. Rau, a prolific photographer of the late 19th Century associated with the firm of Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick, among others. Two other 1900 stereoviews copyrighted by Rau are on mounts of Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick and E. W. Kelley Publications (the "Kelley" of Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick). Kelley himself, who had copyrighted a large number of Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick views, copyrighted Presko stereoviews in 1907 and 1917. Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick had an office in Chicago, where Presko had its headquarters.

According to Paul Rubinstein, Berry, Kelley, and Chadwick moved its main office to Augusta, Georgia before selling its negatives to Keystone in 1915. The markings on the above stereoviews suggest that about 1900, Kelley struck out on his own, perhaps not exclusively, founding a company first named E. W. Kelley Publications, subsequently renamed Presko Binocular Company. If he sold rights to his images in 1919, the company probably came to an end, as did most companies that sold out to Keystone.

Presko published three groups of Great War stereoviews, each of which includes views appearing in Keystone World War sets.

The first was a group numbered from 12301 to at least 12326; most views in this group are copyrighted 1916 by Presko Binocular Company, not by an individual photographer. Eighteen of the possible 26 views have been seen. Of those eighteen, five views were also used (and copyrighted) by Keystone. All were probably official French and British stereoviews.
The second group bore numbers from 6055 to 6096. Of perhaps 50 views in this series, eight have been seen. Three of those have a notation they were copyrighted by E. W. Kelley and the others have no copyright information. One of the Kelley views and two of the others were also used by Keystone. These were also likely to have been official stereoviews.
The last group was numbered from 6111 to 6148. There may have been 50 views, and eight have been seen. None have copyright information. Unlike the preceding two groups, these show the American Army and Navy training. One image of the 8th Infantry, an African-American regiment, was also used by Keystone. Several others were taken at the same time and place as images used by Keystone. A disproportionately large number of Keystone images of stateside training show Illinois subject matter, including US Colored Troops from Chicago, soldiers at Fort Sheridan, and sailors at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. This is strongly suggests that Presko was the source of the images and sold them to Keystone. Kelley may have been the photographer for all or most of the Illinois subjects featured in Keystone sets.

The years in which these images were used by both companies suggest that Presko obtained the rights for French and British images and took the stereographs of Illinois training, then sold the rights to Keystone. Presko views in the 123xx series were sold in 1916; counterpart Keystone images in the 187xx series appeared in the first postwar set, dated as 1919 or at the earliest December 1918. The 60xx and 61xx Presko groups can be dated to 1917, and appeared in the 1920 Keystone set. The only anomaly is a pair of similar images, Presko 12311 and Keystone 18079, both of which appeared in 1916; this indicates the original source of both images was the same, in all likelihood an official French source.

Identical Images Used by Presko and Keystone:

Presko Image	Presko Number & Title	Keystone Number & Title
	12302—British Red Cross Ambulance in French Service. Northern France. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18703—British Red Cross Ambulance in French Service. Northern France.
	12307—British Royal Engineers Transporting Cavalry Horses Across a River. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18708—British Royal Engineers Transporting Cavalry Horses Across a River.
	12309—One of Famous French 75 Millimeter Guns in Ambush Near German Trenches. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18705—French 75 Millimeter Guns in Ambush Near German Trenches.
	12313—Belgians Defending Bridge Across Canal in Flanders. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18704—Belgians Defending Bridge Across Canal, Flanders.
	12326—Ruins of Famous Church at Albert, France. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18706—Ruins of Famous Church at St. Albert, France.
	6055—Hauling Down French Dirigible Balloon for Officers Reports. European War. Copyright 1917 by E. W. Kelley	18758—Hauling Down French Dirigible Balloon for Officer's Report.
	6087—French Mine Explosion Under the German Trenches.	18748—French Mine Explosion Under Enemy Trenches.
	6096—Rendering First Aid to Wounded in the French Trenches.	18753—Rendering First Aid to the Wounded in the French Trenches.
	6123—Men of the Eighth, Chicago's Colored Regiment.	19189—Chicago's 8th Regt., Illinois National Guard, "Roosevelt Guard" (370th U.S. Infantry).

Similar Images Used by Presko and Keystone:

Presko Images	Keystone Images

12311—Pontoon Bridge Built by French Engineers. Northern France. European War. Copyright 1916 by Presko Binocular Co.	18079—Inspecting a Nearly Completed Pontoon Bridge in the French Sector of the West Front.
The inspectors' uniforms are different, but the tall trees at left, the hill in the background, and the prepared stone landing in the foreground mark this as the same river crossing area. It was probably an engineer training area behind the lines.

6129—Thousands Marching, Thousands Watching. Our New National Army, Chicago, Aug. 4, 1917.	19192—Thousands Marching, Thousands Watching! Our National Army, Chicago, Aug. 4, 1917.
These are two pictures of the same parade taken at slightly different times from the same vantage point. Note the buildings at left center, the lamppost at right, the soldier in the foreground, and the little girl in the white dress at right center.