Stereoscopic photography became popular soon after the introduction of photographic processes by Daguerre and by Talbot in 1839. Stereoscopic images were most often viewed as side-by-side left- and right-eye image pairs, using viewers with prisms or mirrors. Superimposition of encoded image pairs was envisioned as early as the 1890s, and encoding by polarization first became practical in the 1930s with the introduction of polarizers in large sheet form. The use of polarizing filters enabled projection of stereoscopic image pairs and viewing of the projected image through complementary polarizing glasses. Further advances included the formation of images that were themselves polarizers, forming superimposed image pairs on a common carrier, the utilization of polarizing image dyes, the introduction of micropolarizers, and the utilization of liquid crystal polarizers. © (2013) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).