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Lantern Slides from the Cleveland Museum
of Art's Library -
May 2009
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Lantern Slide Department, 1941
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Library, 1930 |
The growth of image collections in U.S. educational
and cultural institutions has evolved since the early days of photography
and the image collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art is no exception.
Images have played a critical role in the educational and research functions
of the museum. In its earliest days, lantern slides played a significant
role in the history of the museum. As early as July 1914 Cleveland Museum
of Art director, Frederic Whiting, used lantern slides to illustrate his
talks on American Museums in order to publicize the new Cleveland Museum.
"The Director is prepared to talk before clubs and other organizations
on the need of an Art Museum in the Community, either with or without stereopticon
slides."1 It was the first time images could be seen by
an entire audience.
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Lantern
Slide Department, 1931
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In 1920 the Cleveland
Museum of Art's Lantern Slide Department officially opened with 7,500 photographs,
1,500 lantern slides and around 300 etchings and engravings all donated
by various individuals. The goal of the Lantern Slide Department was to
provide the museum staff and the Cleveland community with an educational
resource for classroom support and lectures for various clubs and organizations.
The lantern slides were lent at no cost for no longer than three days. |
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List of Subjects of Slides in the Lantern Slide Department
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Lantern Slide Department, 1937 |
| For the 20th Anniversary Exhibition which
opened June 26, 1936, the lantern slides were used for two lecture series
in the Museum Auditorium given by Mr. Dudley Crafts Watson. The first ran
August 14-16, 1936 and the second ran October 2-4, 1936. Mr. Watson used
a portion of the library's Lantern Slide Collection and inadvertently returned
to Chicago with four of the slides. He returned the lantern slides with
a letter praising the staff of the Lantern Slide Department. |
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Letter from Art Institute of Chicago, August 21, 1936
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1934 Woodcarving; cooky mold; by pupil of Fairmount Jr. High school
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Because lantern slides were considered
a necessary educational and research tool, the museum expanded its collection
in order to support the mission of continued art education and awareness.
In a report to the Board of Trustees, museum Director, William M. Milliken,
presented statistics of the Lantern Slide Department, showing that as of
June 1, 1939, approximately 2,134,640 slides had been loaned since the Slide
Department opened in 1920, a remarkable record of service to the community.2
The early collection's strength "…is especially to be looked to
for Oriental scenes. It is weak in paintings. We need especially slides,
as we do photographs, showing works of painters of whom we have examples
in the galleries" "3 |
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Lantern Slide Cabinet, 1932
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The Lantern Slide Department
evolved further with the development of 35mm slides. This advancement in
film made images more convenient and desirable. In 1956, in a new and larger
facility, the Lantern Slide Department began to acquire 35mm slides. Due
to their smaller size there was more space to grow the collection. At the
same time, the usage of lantern slides slowly declined.
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| When the Lantern Slide Department moved in 1984,
it was renamed the Slide Library and focused exclusively on the 35mm slide
collection. Slides were circulated to the museum staff, faculty and students
in the CMA/CWRU Joint Program in Art History and Museum Studies, researchers,
area educators and any member of the public giving a presentation for educational
purposes. |
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Slide Library, c. 1984
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Slide Library
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By the time digital technology
began to impact the Slide Library in the late 1990's the collection included
approximately 500,000 slides representing a comprehensive treatment of the
world's artistic and architectural history. In 2000 a project to digitize
the 35mm slides began. The current building project dictated that the entire
slide collection be digitized in order to provide space for other library
needs and services and in 2005 the museum was awarded a U.S. Department
of Education grant to fund the digitization of 86,000 slides by an outside
vendor. Remaining slides were digitized on-site.
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When the Ingalls Library moved to its current
location in September 2006, the Slide Library once again changed its name
to the Image Services Department.
Currently, the Image Services Department serves all museum staff and CWRU
faculty and students in the CMA/CWRU Joint Program in Art History and Museum
Studies. The Image Services staff also fills image requests compliant with
copyright restrictions for outside researchers. |
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Image Services
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The Image Services department provides the following services:
- Scanning 35mm slides
- Digitally photographing or scanning images from books
- Scanning transparencies, negatives, and film prints
- Converting, resizing, and cleaning digital images
- Transfer requested images to CD
- Creating PowerPoint presentations of images requested
The library's ability to provide needed images for education and research
has continued despite changes in name and changes in technology.
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1 The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art, July 1914.
2 Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Trustees, June 30, 1939.
3The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, September-October,
1917, p. 124.
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