AMIA 2024

Projected glass “lantern” slides were part of the cinema-going experience from the very beginning. Slides were used for advertising products, instructing, informing (or scolding) audiences, and spectacularly advertising the delights of upcoming shows. Not only visually stunning, these slides provide unique insight into audience behavior and expectations, as well as advertising and promotional strategies. Many archives and museums hold cinema slides that have been passively collected, but that generally reside on the fringes of the institution’s collection. In his richly illustrated presentation, Rob discusses the history of glass projection slides within the cinema, placing them in both a historic and aesthetic context, as well as the archival challenges and opportunities presented by these fragile objects that many institutions hold in their collections. The presentation will include the opportunity to view and handle original slide artifacts and coincides with the launch of the online Cinema Slide Archive.