Highlight: Glass Plate Slides

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Glass plate slide of Central Hall and Gilchrist — This glass plate negative is one of the larger ones we have, at almost 7 x 5 in. (Most of the slides are 4 x 3.25 in.). The image itself contains Central Hall and Gilchrist (originally South Hall).

SC&UA offers a retro and revitalizing way to explore history—through the viewing of glass plate negatives and lantern slides! Glass plate slides have often been used for educational and presentational purposes. A glass plate negative or lantern slide functions similarly to that of a modern slideshow or PowerPoint presentation, except that they have to be manually swapped. The viewing device used with these lantern slides came to be known as a “magic lantern”.

University Archives includes glass slides that were once used in the classroom and in everyday work. Some of these slides actually depict images taken on campus, such as buildings and student activities. Some of them feature other historical contexts, such as art work, geography, and more! Many of these historical slides come from George R. Swain’s A Catalogue of Lantern Slides for the Use of High Schools, Academies, Colleges, and Universities. I have had the pleasure of working with these slides in the process of properly storing them.

Lantern Slide of Ancient Lamp — Lantern slide number 2379 from Swain’s catalog, captioned: “Ancient lamps showing Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius.”

These slides need to be stored in a non-acidic, buffered enclosure. There is one side of the glass plate slides that is typically more matte in appearance, where any touch should be avoided. This is because this is the side with the emulsion used to print the image onto the glass plate. Touching this emulsion could smudge or flake at the image. It is important that these plates are very carefully handled so as to not be dropped, scratched, cracked, or smudged along the emulsion. To do so, one should handle the slides by its two opposite edges while wearing gloves. The slides should also be stored vertically to avoid pressure or damage.

These slides can be used to explore the amusing past of UNI or certain historical classroom lectures. Some of these slides can be found in the Additional Formats section of the Photograph Collection and a few of these glass plate negative images are also online, such as in the Schoolhouse Glass Plate Negatives article.

Lantern slide contain Chateau at St. Germain — Lantern slide number 204 from Swain’s catalog, captioned: “The Chateau at St. Germain as seen from the gardens.”

Contributed by SC&UA student employee Raegan Christianson, March 2022.

References

“Additional Formats,” in the Photograph Collection #29/03, record group 23, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa.
“Schoolhouse Glass Plate Negatives,” in the University Archives, Articles, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa.
“Slides & Transparencies.” Preservation Self-Assessment Program (PSAP). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Accessed March 9, 2022. https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide/slide. 
Wagner, Sarah S, and Miranda Martin. “How Do I House Glass Plate Negatives?” National Archives. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 2016. https://www.archives.gov/preservation/storage/glass-plate-negatives.html.