This list of lantern slide collections provides an overview of collections held in institutions internationally. The magic lantern was a very popular medium, particularly so from the 18th to the early 20th Century. There are many collections which remain uncatalogued. As a result, this list is likely to continue to expand as more information is made available.
Terminology
The terms "lantern slides" and "magic lantern" are used here as umbrella terms for describing objects related to the historical art of projection. Various terms can be found across history, disciplines, intended audiences or for descriptions of specific formats of slides and types of lanterns. In English, historical terms for "lantern slides" are "transparencies", "photographic transparencies", "slides" and "magic lantern slides". Alternative terms for magic lanterns include "optical lantern", "sciopticon", "stereopticon", "projection apparatus", "toy lantern" and more. The Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource [1] and the Magic Lantern and Lantern Slide Catalog Collection on Media History Digital Library [2] offer sources that display the range of terminology used. This list welcomes all references, independent of the term that the respective collection uses to describe its material.
About the collections
The majority of the collections included form part of museum, archive, and library collections which are made available to researchers either by appointment or through digital platforms. Magic, or optical, lantern slides vary in date, subject, format and use, and the collections listed reflect that variation. The collections are arranged by country, specifying collection name and description where known. Collections owned by private individuals are not listed.
Australia
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
Museum Victoria
Melbourne
Various Collections.[3] Around 4,000 slides, ranging from narrative slides to astronomical, industrial, portraits, advertisements and more.
Documents and Artefacts Collection.[4] 10,000 glass slides including cinema slides, song slides and theatre advertisements.
University of Melbourne
Melbourne
School of Ecosystem and Forest Science (SEFS) lantern glass slide collection.[5] 950 chiefly black & white photographic lantern slides, 8x8cm, compiled to provide knowledge about trees and forests in Victoria as well as about their environmental location.
Lanterns and lantern slides are part of the Vrielynck Collection.[6] The collection contains many optical apparatuses. Some items are digitized and documented on M HKA's website.
Canada
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
Digitized Okanagan History
Kelowna, BC
395 digitized lantern glass slides available online,[7] from the collection of the Historic O'Keefe Ranch[8]
Lantern Slide Collection.[9] The collection consists of 91 narrative slides.
Denmark
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
DTU Historie en Samlingsdatabase
Lyngby
Lantern Slide Collection from different fields of engineering (bridge building, building materials).[10] The digital collection has over 1,000 slides online .
Laterna magica.[11] The dedicated portal for searching the Cinémathèque's collection of around 17,000, 18th to early 20th century, lantern slides.
Germany
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
University of Hamburg
Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar der Universität Hamburg
Hamburg
Slide Archive.[12] Around 170,000 lantern size glass slides, manufactured from 1900 up to 1980 from all fields of Archeology and Art History, used by famous art historians such as Erwin Panofsky and Wolfgang Schöne. Slide Projectors. Digitization in progress since 2016, about 3,000 images online in database (password protected).
Minici Zotti Collection.[15] Mostly hand painted, illustrated with engravings transferred onto glass or hand-coloured photographic slides. The collection also includes dissolving view slides, chromatropes and other movement slides.
Slide Archive with more than 7,000 lantern slides in various formats and types; some from the 18th Century. Contains many toy slides, lecture sets, hand-painted dissolving views and some apparatus. Parts of the collection are accessible in the EYE Collection Database, a little fraction (c. 2,000 images) is accessible online via the Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource [16]
Museum Sloten
Museum Stedhûs Sleat
Sloten / Sleat
Local Museum that has the collection of lanternist Peter Bonnet on permanent display[17]
Speelgoedmuseum Deventer
Deventer
Local toy museum with approximately 200 lantern slides and other optical media collections.[18]
Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
Leiden
Slide Archive with approximately 10,000 lantern slides, mostly in standard format, used by museum-, educational- and public lectures in Afrikamuseum, Tropenmuseum (in history part of the Royal Tropical Institute)and Museum Volkenkunde. Most slides were produced between 1900 and 1960s. Most of the collection is digitized in own database, accessible online on our collectionsite[19]
Utrecht University
Utrecht University Museum
Utrecht
Slide Archive with approximately 30,000 lantern slides, mostly in standard format, used by various departments for university teaching and public lectures. Most slides were produced between 1895 and 1950s. Parts of the collection are digitized in own database, a little fraction is accessible online via the Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource [20]
Spain
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
Cinema Museum (Girona)
Tomàs Mallol Collection
Girona
Lanterns and lantern slides are part of the collection Tomàs Mallol.[21] The collection contains many optical apparatuses. All items are digitized and documented on the museum's website as well as in the Lucerna magic lantern web resource.
South Africa
Institution
Department
Location
Collection
Rhodes University
Lidbetter Photographic Collection
Makhanda
The Lidbetter Photographic collection consists of 167 glass negatives that are 17 x 22 cm in size, 10 that are 12 x 16 cm, and 9 that are 8 x 10.5 cm. In addition there are 80 plus non-glass negatives of various sizes, all dated from 1925 onwards.[22]
A wide selection of lantern slides from the 18th and 19th century, including dissolving views, slipping slides, narrative sets and large format slides made for the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London.[24]
Screen Archive South East.[27] Several thousands of slides mostly from the 19th century. Some are digitised and accessible via the collection's web page.
Ashton Photographic Collection.[28] Over three thousand slides brought together by amateur photographer John Cooper Ashton depicting 19th century European scenery, antiquities and natural history.
Brethren Lantern Slides Collection.[29] 100 lantern slides depicting Christian missionary activity around the world, all of which have been digitised[30] and are available to view online.[31]
The University Library, Special Collections Department
Sheffield
Beet Lantern Slide Collection.[32] Around 2,500 lantern slides on a wide range of subjects. It includes photographic slides depicting Sheffield and home-made glass slides.
A collection of lantern slides illustrating various folk tales from around the world by the artist and photographer Henry Underhill. Over 300 slides.[citation needed]
Approximately 70,000 slides created for the purposes of teaching art history, documenting art, archaeology, architecture, and design. Slides are currently being digitized.[34] Names associated with the collection include Meyer Schapiro, Rudolph Wittkower, Margarete Bieber, Paul Wingert, William Bell Dinsmoor, and Richard Brilliant.
Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute
Columbus, Ohio
Joel E. Rubin Collection.[37] The collection consists of materials relating to lighting design and equipment. It includes hand-painted scenery and 'pose' lantern slides.
Photographic Lantern Slide Collection.[38] Around 600 geographic/travel slides.
References
^"Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource". slides.uni-trier.de. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
^"Magic Lantern and Lantern Slide Catalog Collection on MHDL". mediahistoryproject.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
^"Explore Museums Victoria's humanities and natural sciences collections". museumsvictoria.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Documents and artefacts - NFSA". www.nfsa.gov.au/. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
^"Lantern Glass Slide Collection". researchdata.ands.org.au/. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
^"Vrielyck Collection". muhka.be. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
^"Lantern Glass Slides". Digitized Okanagan History. Archived from the original on 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
^"O'Keefe Ranch Historical Archives". O'Keefe Ranch. Archived from the original on 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
^"Lantern slide collection". Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
^"Lantern slide collection". Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^FRANCAISE, CINEMATHEQUE. "Laterna magica - Cinémathèque française". laternamagica.fr. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Diaarchiv des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars". Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
^"Museo Nazionale del Cinema". museocinema.it. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^ ab"Museo Nazionale del Cinema". museocinema.it. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"homepage - Museo del PRECINEMA - Collezione Minici Zotti". minicizotti.it. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource". slides.uni-trier.de. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^"Museum Sloten - Toverlantaarns". museumsloten.nl. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^"Speelgoedmuseum Deventer - Optical toys". speelgoedmuseumdeventer.nl. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
^"NMVW collection". Archived from the original on 4 October 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
^"Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource". slides.uni-trier.de. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^"The Tomàs Mallol Collection". museudelcinema.cat. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
^"Lidbetter Photographic Collection". Retrieved 26 August 2019.
^"Sir George Cory Lantern Slide Collection". Retrieved 26 August 2019.
^"Lantern slides". Science Museum Group Collection. Science Museum Group. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
^Bristol, University of. "Magic Lantern Slide Collection - Theatre Collection - University of Bristol". bristol.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Explore the collection / Lantern Slides - The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum". bdcmuseum.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Screen Archive South East - University of Brighton". Archived from the original on 2017-09-18. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^"Ashton Photographic Collection - University of Glasgow". Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
^Manchester, University of. "Brethren Lantern Slides - John Rylands Library - University of Manchester". man.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^"Christian Brethren Magic Lantern Slides now online". Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^"Brethren Lantern Slides". Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^Sheffield, University of. "Beet Lantern Slide Collection - Special Collections - The University Library - The University of Sheffield". sheffield.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Thanhouser Studio Collection: Special Collections". oscars.org. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
^"Illuminating Art History". Media Center for Art History. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
^"Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection: Lantern Slides for Garden & Historic House Lectures (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress)". loc.gov. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Genthe Collection - About this Collection". loc.gov. 1 January 1896. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Finding aid for the Joel E. Rubin Collection". ohiolink.edu. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^"Photographic lantern slide collection". usf.edu. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.