Beyond and with the object: assessing the dissemination range of lantern slides and their imagery

Abstract

This article proposes methods to trace media history through material objects that build on archival practices. It discusses the character of information derived from the object and other related sources, to outline possibilities for media-historical research connecting multiple collections to create large sets of data. The aim of this article is twofold: first,

Enticed to settle elsewhere: Magic lantern slides and the transnational creation of European colonial citizens

“…As Dellmann (2016: 341) explains, lantern slides are ubiquitous in museums, archives and library collections, but these collections are often not well documented, registered, catalogued or digitized. This was certainly also the case with the lantern slide collection of the NZAV which, apart from the vague description as ‘non-unique material’, was otherwise uncatalogued and not described when they were discovered in 2015.…”

Defining the first preventive conservation guidelines for hand-painted magic lantern glass slides

“…"A Million Pictures: Magic Lantern Slide Heritage as Artefacts in the Common European History of Learning" (AMP), 2015-2018) [7,10]. Even though institutions frequently have hundreds to thousands of slides, they are rarely able to prioritise their time and personnel to these collections, since there is a lack of specialised knowledge about curating and cataloguing of magic lantern slides [11]. In addition, the frequent lack of high-resolution photographs, inventory, and the necessity of combining information from multiple sources (e.g.…”

“…In addition, the frequent lack of high-resolution photographs, inventory, and the necessity of combining information from multiple sources (e.g. catalogues, trade press, lecture material and readings) to adequately describe and catalogue lantern slides, constitutes some of the main obstacles for their study and preservation [7,11,12]. Furthermore, only preventive and interventive conservation guidelines for photographic glass slides are currently available, and no specific guidelines for the preservation of hand-painted magic lantern slides could be found by the authors [13][14][15].…”