Magic Lantern Slides

ca. 1820-ca. 1930
Laupus Library Manuscript Collection, LL 02.58
Creator(s)
Physical description
0.44 Cubic Feet
Preferred Citation
Magic Lantern Slides (LL 02.58), The William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
Laupus Library History Collections
Access
No restrictions

Two series of slides, according to labels on the slides: series A and series C. Series A contains slides having to do with the history of healing and includes illustrations from ancient Greek, medieval, and Native American sources up through the 19th century. Series C contains slides having to do with nursing history, focusing on 19th to early 20th century.


Biographical/historical information

A lantern slide is a positive photographic transparency sandwiched between two 3 ¼" by 4" glass plates, and projected onto a screen by means of a "magic lantern" projector. The photographs document one of the earliest uses of audio-visual techniques for classroom instruction. Lantern slides have origins tracing back to the 1660s, when the first optical lanterns were exhibited in cities across Europe. They provided one of the most popular forms of entertainment during their heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the development of cinematography, the magic lantern slides lost their popularity, and eventually evolved into the automatic photo slide projector.


Scope and arrangement

Two series of slides, according to labels on the slides: series A and series C. Series A contains slides having to do with the history of healing and including illustrations from ancient Greek, medieval, and Native American sources up through the 19th century. Series C contains slides having to do with nursing history, focusing on 19th to early 20th century. The slides are undated, but likely date between 1820 and 1930.


Administrative information
Custodial History

1992 May 6: 148 glass slides. Gift of North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Unit via Todd L. Savitt.

Source of acquisition

Gift of North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Unit

Processing information

Processing revised by Ashley Williams, 2015

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Related material

William H. Waugh Collection (LL 02.06), The William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.


Container list
Box 1 Folder 1 A1-A239, undated
Box 2 Folder 1 A240-A358, C1-C14, undated
Box 3 Folder 1 C16-C65, undated
Box 4 Folder 1 Wooden box that originally held slides, undated