Automatic Restoration of Historical Stereoscopic Photographs for 3D Visualization at Scale

Vast archives of stereographic photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries survive in collections worldwide. While extensively digitized, these artifacts remain largely inaccessible in their intended three-dimensional form. Contemporary stereoscopic displays offer ideal platforms for experiencing these historical media, yet a significant barrier persists: the labor-intensive process of restoring deteriorated stereographs for comfortable viewing. This paper addresses this challenge through two approaches: first, establishing a comprehensive framework for manual stereograph restoration that balances historical authenticity with viewing comfort; second, presenting our ongoing development of an automated pipeline that leverages recent advances in computer vision. Our approach aims to dramatically reduce the time and expertise required for restoration, potentially enabling unprecedented access to historical stereographic archives and facilitating their reintroduction to contemporary audiences through immersive technologies.