The FWW Glass Stereo Photos of Cl. Gueidan

[Ian Ference]

Recently, the Collection of which I am the current curator obtained 148 amateur glass stereoviews through a connection in France - and holy cow, were they impressive. I started doing some digging based on the fact that "Cl. Gueidan" was penciled in on one of the Taxiphote trays they arrived in. It turns out that he sold the photos to the Section Photographique de l'Armée; all photos appear to date between 1914-15.

What's weird are that a number of images almost identical to these appear as flat photos in the Valois albums (official SPA documentation), meaning these must be the outtakes, or views Gueidat took for his own personal enjoyment.

There are a remarkable number of images of key high command figures, as well as scenes of trench life, setting up camp in the Argonne forests, a tour of a very impressive-looking hospital (any identification on any of these would be helpful!) and so on. Here are a few samples, I will be processing the remaining 142 as time allows:

1) King Albert I receiving his Croix de Guerre from Poincaré and Millerand
2) Officers having supper (no caption)
3) The intact statue of Madame Boursin in the ruined Château de Soupir in Soissons
4) Kitchener, Joffre, and some of the other "guys in the band", at the Franco-British Conference (6-7 July 1915) in Calais
5) A hospital scene (still to be identified; any help would be appreciated)
6) Trench's exit

[Ian Ference]

A few more from the same stereographer:

 

[Michelle Young]

All that’s left of Soupir Chateau  in the village of Soupir. The gatehouse still exists, as do the gates, quite a bit of the walls, and an archway in the grounds. The information boards show pictures of the chateau. 

[Ian Ference]

10 hours ago, Michelle Young said:

All that’s left of Soupir Chateau  in the village of Soupir. The gatehouse still exists, as do the gates, quite a bit of the walls, and an archway in the grounds. The information boards show pictures of the chateau. 

Thanks for the additional information Michelle! I'd done some digging around the Chateau, though honestly most of my efforts so far with this collection have been in trying to identify the hospital in one subset of slides, and the colonial troops from another.

Here are some more of Gueidan's 1915 images of the Chateau de Soupir, including one from the gallery in the bottom image in the final photo you sent on:

[Michelle Young]

My late  father would have loved to have seen these. Thank you for posting them. We went back to the Aisne, an area he had a great fondness for (and some considerable knowledge) recently, the first time since his death. It was an emotional journey.