Benjamin Kilburn (1827 – 1909) was an American photographer and stereoscopic view publisher famous for his landscape images of the nascent American and Canadian state, provincial, and national parks and his visual record of the great migrations at the end of the nineteenth century.
Kilburn Brothers stereoviews date from about 1865. Published sources attribute their stereographs before 1876 solely to Benjamin. His brother, Edward Kilburn (1830 – 1884), however, learned the art of photography from a local daguerreotypist, Ora C. Bolton, from neighboring Waterford, Vermont at an earlier date.
Photographer O. C. Bolton also taught Franklin G. Weller of Littleton, New Hampshire. Weller became a notable stereo-photographer who would introduce comic views of a special local color and pioneer a popular line which appeared in later Kilburn subject categories. Bolton was connected with another early stereo-photographer, Franklin L. White of Lancaster, New Hampshire, who published a view list of glass stereographs in 1859.
Early period Kilburn stereoviews were sold by Joseph L. Bates, a retail outlet which specialized in Oliver Wendell Holmes stereo-viewers at his location on Washington Street, Boston. A Kilburn-Bates stereoview catalog was published about 1867. The Kilburn list reflected choices similar to those of Franklin L. White. Bates commercial support gave Kilburn Brothers their first significant push in the marketplace.
Stereograph of Boston Common by B.W. Kilburn
Castle Garden, New York, 1891 by B.W. Kilburn
Franconia, New Hampshire, 1880 by B.W. Kilburn
Boston, Massachusetts, ca.1880s-1890s by B.W. Kilburn
World’s Columbian Exposition Official fair style, Chicago, IL, 1893 by B.W. Kilburn
Great Boston Fire of 1872 Boston, MA Nov 1872 by B.W. Kilburn
Summit, New Hampshire, 1872 – 1877 by B.W. Kilburn
Appomattox, Virginia, 1865 – 1868 by B.W. Kilburn
