What is a lantern slide?
Lantern slides were first referenced in 1646 and were originally hand-painted images on glass and projected using a “magic lantern”. When photography was invented in the 1800’s the process changed to developing photographs on glass. Then the glass images were coated with paper and another layer of glass and framed for safe keeping. These lantern slides were film positives and could be projected onto a screen. They were commonly used for entertainment and education in the 1930’s, the time of the Rainbow Bridge-Moument Valley Expedition.
RBMVE Lantern Slides
The Nina Webber lantern slides are held in the archive of the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado. They feature moments from the Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition in the 1930’s and are especially interesting because they are hand colored. The artists who tinted them had often not seen the terrain of the Southwest and this explains the sometimes unusual coloration of the landscape. Ansel Hall, the founder of the RBMVExpedition, used them to promote the Expedition and raise money. Impressively, he was able to fund and supply all 6 seasons of the Expedition privately through his wide circle of contacts and presentations that included these lantern slides showing the incredible beauty of the Southwest, the Native people and the Expedition. He did presentations by camp fire, in universities and at luxurious homes and was very successful in encouraging all types of people, organizations and businesses to donate.
Ansel Hall acted as photographer for many of the images that appear in the lantern slides, but some were taken by other photographers from the Expedition.
Thank you to the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, our generous collaborators, for sharing these lantern slides with us.
