Home

Church of Ireland Home

RCB Library Notes

RCB Library’s ‘Magic Lantern’ Collection Fosters Ecumenical Links

Since 2012 and the launch of its Archive of the Month initiative, the RCB Library has been proactive in digitising and promoting lantern slides or ‘magic lanterns’. These slides consist of images from glass plates, where the photographic positive was fixed between two pieces of glass and then projected by using a lamp.

Some 96 magic lantern slides dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were recently recovered in ‘a hidden corner’ at Mariannella in Rathgar, just around the corner from library. The building is the headquarters of the Redemptorist Order in Ireland and this collection fits into a similar genre as the Church of Ireland ones, and is also of exceptionally good quality.

The contents include scene views in counties Clare and Limerick, and the world travel and educational activities of the order. In the light of the RCB Library’s experience, archival staff from the Redemptorist Library visited the library recently, and had their own collection digitised. In conjunction with posting a selection of their images online, the staff have now blogged about how they ‘turned to the archivists in the Representative Church Body Library for help’. A warm acknowledgement of this collaboration and sharing of ideas is posted at this link: http://tinyurl.com/h5sxvpr

Missionaries in topi with child c.1890 at the Chota Nagpur Mission, Hazaribagh, from the India lantern slides at the Representative Church Body Library.
Missionaries in topi with child c.1890 at the Chota Nagpur Mission, Hazaribagh, from the India lantern slides at the Representative Church Body Library.

Missionaries in topi with child c.1890 at the Chota Nagpur Mission, Hazaribagh, from the India lantern slides at the Representative Church Body Library.

To date, six online exhibits (including the current one for December 2015) have showcased a variety of lantern collections safely lodged in the RCB Library – all of which demonstrate what an important tool they provided for linking the church at home to the wider world of mission. These are permanently available on the links below:

1. Scenes from North India in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/135

2. Pictures from a tour in Palestine 100 years ago: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/136

3. Closing in on our Killaloe photographer: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/174

4. More magic lanterns connecting the Church of Ireland and the wider world of mission in the 1930s: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/201

5. Lantern slides from the Boer War and the First World War: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/198

6. More magic lantern slides – an eclectic collection found in Stillorgan parish, Dublin: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/128

With the advent of photography from the mid–19th century, lanterns were in common use – reaching the peak of their popularity about 1900 – and continuing until the 1950s (when they were gradually replaced by 35mm slides). As far as the churches and church organisations were concerned, magic lanterns provided an important medium for clergy, educators and others to spread their message for a variety of charitable and educational purposes. 

 

For further information please contact:

Church of Ireland Press Office 
Church of Ireland House 
61–67 Donegall Street 
Belfast, BT1 2QH 

Tel: (028) 9082 8880 (from NI)
Tel: (048) 9082 8880 (from RoI)
Fax (028) 9032 3554 
Email: Press Office 

Paul Harron

+44 (0)7787 881582

Peter Cheney

+44 (0)7774295369

Janet Maxwell

+353 (0)87 948 4412

Our use of cookies

Some cookies are necessary for us to manage how our website behaves while other optional, or non-necessary, cookies help us to analyse website usage. You can Accept All or Reject All optional cookies or control individual cookie types below.

You can read more in our Cookie Notice

Functional

These cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytics cookies

Analytical cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage.