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Kerry and Margaret Blay. As a teenager he accompanied
a travelling photographer, then at 17 he worked for Al-
exander H. Lamartiniere in a studio at 308 George St,
Sydney, eventually becoming a partner in the business.
Lamartiniere left the business in debt around 1883 but
Kerry managed to resurrect it, providing portraiture
which he eventually delegated to staff while he photo-
graphed an increasing array of landscape views, social
events and bush life. In the 1886 he formed a partnership
with C. D. Jones that capitalised on the dry plate process.
In 1888 Kerry began using magnesium fl ashlight, put to
use inside the Jenolan Caves and 10 years later he used
electric fl ashlight. Kerry and his employed photogra-
phers made regular trips throughout New South Wales
during the 1890s executing private and government
commissions and building a massive stock of landscape
views. In 1895 the NSW Government requested Kerry
photograph the state’s Aborigines. In 1898 new four
level premises were opened at 310 George St. In 1903
the fi rm started producing postcards and it quickly
became one of Australia’s larger postcard publishers.
Kerry left the business in the hands of his nephew in
1913 to pursue mining interests and it closed in 1917.
Kerry died in 1928 in North Sydney.
Marcel Safier
Holdings: State Library of New South Wales,
Sydney; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; State Library
of Victoria, Melbourne; National Library of Australia,
Canberra.
KILBURN, BENJAMIN WEST (1827–1909)
AND EDWARD (1830–1884)
Stereoscopic photographers and publishers
Benjamin and Edward Kilburn were the sons of Josiah
and Emily Bonney Kilburn. Josiah managed a machine
and iron foundry in Littleton, New Hampshire. Benja-
min, the oldest child, was born on 10 December 1827.
His brother Edward was born on 27 February 1830. In
1843 both children began a three-year apprenticeship
at an iron foundry in Fall River, Massachusetts. After
their apprenticeship they returned to Littleton to work
with their father.
Littleton is located in northern New Hampshire, on
the western edge of the White Mountains. Its popular-
ity as a tourist destination dates to the middle of the
nineteenth century. The area offered spectacular scenery
and hiking, fi shing, and hunting opportunities, as well
as resort hotels for relaxing and dining.
In the mid-1850s Edward Kilburn learned photog-
raphy from O.C. Bolton, one of the early White Moun-
tain photographers. Edward pursued photography as a
pastime while he established a match factory and later
sold Grover and Baker sewing machines. Both broth-
ers enlisted in the Civil War. In 1865 they formed a
stereographic view partnership, known as the Kilburn
Brothers, which would grow to dominate the fi eld of
stereo publishing. Stereo views are two photographs
mounted side-by-side that appear three-dimensional
when placed in a viewer called a stereoscope. Collect-
ing stereo views was a craze of the middle-class in the
mid to late nineteenth century. People acquired stereo
views of tourist spots that they had visited as well as
exotic locales that they would only experience through
the wonder of the stereoscope.
Although Edward was initially the fi rm’s primary
photographer, Benjamin quickly took over this impor-
tant duty. Early views concentrated on the White and
Franconia Mountains. In spite of their rural location,
Kilburn Brothers’s views were sold around the coun-
try. In 1866 the Littleton Gazette reported that: “... the
Kilburn Brothers with their new instrument for taking
Sterreoscopic [sic] views ... are being extensively circu-
lated throughout the United States, and are pronounced
by the most useful critics to be equal if not superior to
any others published in the United States.”
After only two years of business the fi rm was sell-
ing views internationally. In 1867 the Kilburn Brothers
built a factory on Main Street in Littleton. In addition
to the production areas, a sales shop occupied the front
room.
The Kilburn Brothers used assembly line techniques
in the production of their stereo views. The fi rm em-
ployed predominantly women who were responsible
for a variety of duties including sensitizing the albumen
paper, and hand cutting and pasting the prints. Men
worked as printers, photographers, and in managerial
positions. Over the years, the number of employees
fl uctuated, reaching a peak in 1904 when the company
employed more than 100 people. They worked ten hour
days from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In December 1873 the Kilburn Brothers moved into
a new and bigger factory on Cottage Street in Littleton.
This building had a southern exposure along its length,
providing more natural light for the printing operation.
At this time, the company produced between 1400 and
1800 stereo views a day. A dozen views cost approxi-
mately $2.00.
Despite the company’s success, Edward retired in
February 1875 at the age of forty-fi ve. In retirement he
gave a series of magic lantern shows featuring views
from the Kilburn Brothers’s inventory and planted a
large orchard. He died in 1884.
Benjamin continued to run the stereo company,
changing its name to the B.W. Kilburn Company. One
of the company’s specialties was views of the cog
railroad run by the Mount Washington Steam Railway
Company. Kilburn documented the development of
the railroad, and a series of his views appeared in the