Discovering the Lantern slides’ collection

One of the major projects of the collection concerns its photographs. Hardly known, they consist of photographic prints, modern slides, flexible large format slides and lantern slides. We are currently working on a basic inventory of all of the collection’s photographs and images, which will enable us to estimate the number of items, the state of their condition, and to build a plan of preservation for the collection.

Two of the wood boxes as they look today.
©D.Mercier

In the meantime, we have started work on the lantern slides collection. It is made of about 1300 items preserved in 30 old wood boxes as shown in the illustrations. Used as teaching equipment, there are three kinds of slides: reproductions of anthropology books; reproductions of published anthropology photographs; and reproductions of original photographs taken by UCL researchers during their fieldwork investigations. The whole collection is a testimony to anthropology’s historiography and the ways in which it has been taught. Of course, photographs from fieldwork are very exciting and our investigations may unveil fascinating documents useful for current research.

Examples of original photographs taken by
UCL’s professors during their investigations.
©D.Mercier

As for the rest of our projects, the preservation plan for the collection of photographs, including work on the lantern slides, has been made possible thanks to our team of five assistant curators: Bernadett Dundics, Alina Apostu, Katherine Warshauer, Claudia Da Lanca, and Amy Buxton. They are all volunteers, students or alumni of UCL and we take this opportunity to thank them for their amazing work.

From left to right : Amy Buxton, Katherine Warshauer
and Claudia Da Lanca. ©D.Mercier

We have five major goals with our lantern slides project :

1. Identify each slide with an accession number.
   
2. Create a digital inventory.
3. Preserve the collection (packaging each slide with restoration material fitted to it and packaging the slides in new boxes made of neutral cardboard).
4. Evaluate the interest of the collection for contemporary research.
5. Make a selection of slides to be scanned and released.

Specific 4 flap sleeve dedicated to the preservation
of lantern slides. ©D. Mercier

This project began last December with the help of UCL Museums and Collections and Susi Pancaldo, Senior Conservator in this department, and is planned to last one year.