Annual Meeting 2006: Magic Lantern Castle Tour

Magic Lantern Castle Interior

On Saturday, October 21 at 4:00 p.m., the group met at the Magic Lantern Castle, where we were greeted by owner/curator Jack Judson. Mr. Judson gave us a chance to walk around and look at his beautifully presented Magic Lantern collection before we were seated. He spoke about the history of his collection. He told us that he'd bought his first lantern slide projector in London in 1986 and the collection has grown to 75,000 items, including 65,000 lantern slides. He opened the Magic Lantern Castle museum in 1992; it is accessible by appointment only for private tours and researchers.

Mr. Judson explained the history and technical evolution of magic lanterns and slides and noted that they have been around since the fifteenth century. In 1641, Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit priest wrote The Great Art of Light and Shadow and referred to the “laterna magica” in his book. In the second edition of the publication, printed thirty years later, the book included a drawing of a magic lantern. It wasn’t until the 1700’s that someone decided that they could make money from lantern slides. Traveling itinerant showmen with lantern slides were popular at the time, and there is a complete traveling showman’s trunk in the collection. Mr. Judson described the magic lantern as the father of motion pictures and the grandfather of television.

Mr. Judson pointed out a wall of magic lantern illustrations that were on display. He owns all the originals, which were produced 1700-1900 from around the world. He also pointed out that he also owns Japanese wood block books on rice paper, European illustrations, and a copy of the Kircher book.

There were many purposes for the lantern slide including entertainment, advertising, education and scientific uses. There was an entire wall glass exhibit case devoted to lanterns and slides for scientific and education use. He related how in science and education use, a lecturer would have a lectern (with it’s own lighting to be able to read in a darkened room) facing the audience and used a small bell to indicate to the projectionist in the back, when to change the slide. Mr. Judson’s collection included such a lectern, and was part of his demonstrations. The other topics of slides vary from biblical scenes to animation scenes. Usually the content being projected was aimed toward a popular audience. There was no standardization of the size of slides; some were 3 1/4" square in Britain and the US, and they were 3 1/4" x 4" and a few were even 3 1/2' tall! Many were made in black and white and were hand-painted. Others had decals stuck to the glass. The glass used for slides was thinner than window glass.

Judson Demonstrates Limelight

Mr. Judson gave a demonstration of the light for lantern slides and explained how the increase in light helped stabilize the image. He started by lighting an oil and wick lantern with a match but later gave a demonstration using an original magic lantern with limelight, when gas burning against a cylinder of lime incandesces oxygen and hydrogen. This produced a brilliant, steady light to display the slides.

Mr. Judson described his exhibition room. There is a wall of the original prints and illustrations mentioned earlier, dating from 1700-1900’s. He pointed out other cases that include lantern slides, an area of children’s slide lanterns and slides, a scientific area, a “secret society” area and many items in between. He explained that secret societies used lantern slides to describe their history. He showed us the one and only 3-D stereo magic lantern in existence. He also pointed out a case that displayed of Joseph Bogue Beals slides who was the pre-eminent American artist from Philadelphia. There was also a silver cup given to the Magic Lantern Society from renowned photographer, Alfred Stieglitz.

Mr. Judson explained that magic lantern slides were no longer produced after 1980, but the Yale art school still uses lantern slides today.

Mr. Judson gave us a tour of his library and mentioned that he wrote a book titled America’s Lantern Enterprise and is working on another. He gets calls daily from universities and museums and is always looking to expand his collection.

The tour ended at 6:00 p.m., and most of the group headed to dinner at Silo’s.