Name: Electric Lantern
Narrative: Slide projector, a very dated machine by current standards.
A forerunner of the modern slide projector, and more recently of digital multimedia presentation software and hardware, the magic lantern was used for projecting slides onto a screen. At the early stages of the magic lantern, fire from burning oil illuminated the slides. Later improvements in illumination techniques led to the use of limelight (lime lit in oxy-hydrogen gas), acetylene and finally the electric arc lamp. Magic lantern projections were a popular form of entertainment throughout the nineteenth century. They were also useful for illustrating public lectures.
Web Site Accession Number: 2005.680.0688
Object Height: 8 cm
Object Width: 8 cm
Credit: University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, John Davidson Lantern Slide 688
Object Date(s): unknown
Artist: Davidson, John
Media: lantern slide [black tape, glass]
