The Media History Digital Library is excited to announce the availability of a new digital collection on our site: the Magic Lantern and Lantern Slide Catalog Collection!The magic lantern (also known as optical lantern or stereopticon) is much older then the MHDL’s search platform that bears a similar name. Fundamentally, the magic lantern is a projection device: a slide is projected with the help of lenses, condensers and artificial light onto a screen, wall, or other opaque surface. First mentioned by Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens in 1659, it developed into one of the most popular optical media to entertain and instruct. Early film projectors could be seen as a direct “derivative”, adding a “kinetoscope attachment” while using the magic lantern as light source. The slide projector and digital beamer with its corresponding slides or PowerPoint presentations can be seen as its successors.
Source: Introducing the Magic Lantern and Lantern Slide Catalog Collection!