New York State Education Department Division of Visual Instruction Instructional Lantern Slides

Arrangement is uncertain. Most slides are arranged by discrete subjects which may correspond to topics found in Division of Visual Instruction series A3135, Published Study Guides and Lists of Educational Lantern Slides.

Lantern slides were compiled, mostly between 1911 and 1939, as instructional aids for the public school curriculum. (Most pre-1911 slides were destroyed in a fire.) More than 20,000 unique images dating from 1856-1939 document a wide variety of subjects including New York State, North American and world geography, history, natural sciences, fine arts, trades, industries, education, and schools. The collection includes views of scenery, sites, structures, and human activities in the United States and other countries; copies of historical images of individuals and works of art; world climates; animal life; ancient and American history; English and American literature; iron and steel industry; agriculture; forestry; lumbering; fishing; coal mining; salt; clay products; fiber and textiles; and the New York State canal system.

The photographs were reproduced in the form of lantern slides for use in classrooms. A lantern slide is a positive photographic transparency sandwiched between two 3 1/4" by 4" glass plates, and projected onto a screen by means of a "Magic Lantern" projector. The photographs document one of the earliest uses of audio-visual techniques for classroom instruction and include numerous rare or unique images. Thousands of slides were produced by the Division of Visual Instruction and sets of slides were loaned to schools throughout the State from 1886 to 1939.

A3045-04: This accretion consists of approximately 2100 lantern slides, 1911-1939. Most slides are arranged by discrete subjects and were apparently used as teaching sets loaned to schools. Approximately 80% are hand-colored; the remainder are black and white. Subjects include Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, travel in various states and foreign countries, maps, the Revolutionary War, and other geographical and historical subjects.

Microfilm of the Classified Slides subseries (18 rolls) is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

High resolution images of a selected instructional lantern slides, including most of the slides documenting New York State, are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

A3134Series A3134, Negatives and positive transparencies of instructional photographic images, contains approximately 12,000 glass plate negatives and positive glass plate transparencies used to produce the lantern slides

A3132Series A3132, Subject card indexes to instructional photographic images

A3135Series A3135, Published study guides and lists of educational lantern slides which accompanied the slides on loan

A3133Series A3133, Registers of accessioned and classified negatives

A4199Series A4199, Special lantern slide sets, [ca. 1880-1934]

Index to lantern slides is available at the New York State Archives.

A3045-03: This accretion was apparently transferred from the State Library ca. 1978, but was misidentified or estrayed and was not accessioned until 2004.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.