CORRECTION: The original lantern slides will be shown using the Museum's vintage projector.
Looking Glass Through History
Margaret Mead Film Festival, Saturday, November 13, 1:30pm
(co-presented with the NY Stereoscopic Society and the International Center of Photography)
Kaufmann Auditorium, American Museum of Natural History
NY Stereoscopic Society member Barbara Mathe will present Looking Glass Through History as part of this year's Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History. Barbara is librarian and archivist at the Museum. She was instrumental in cataloging and bringing to light the long-forgotten stereoviews made during the Museum's Lang-Chapin Congo Expedition of 1909-1915. Recently, her attention has turned to the lantern slide collection begun by the Museum's founder, Albert Bickmore. The lantern slides were the basis of a popular 19th-century lecture series at the Museum, and were later circulated in the New York City school system.
Barbara's talk will include xxxxxxx projections (2D) of a variety of the slides, including pictures of scientific specimens, Museum scientists on field expeditions, and landscape studies. She will also tell us the story of over 20,000 slides that were lost from the collection and only recently recovered from a basement in Staten Island. Historians Constance Areson Clarke and Alison Griffiths will add perspectives on the wider history of lantern slides and educational media.
Advance tickets for the Festival events are available http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2010/films/lantern-slides. New York Stereoscopic Society members may purchase tickets at the discounted price of $10 by phoning the Museum's Central Reservations office at 212-769-5200.
