Beyond and with the object: assessing the dissemination range of lantern slides and their imagery

Abstract

This article proposes methods to trace media history through material objects that build on archival practices. It discusses the character of information derived from the object and other related sources, to outline possibilities for media-historical research connecting multiple collections to create large sets of data. The aim of this article is twofold: first, I share practical knowledge about identifying lantern slides of commercially distributed slide sets, to generalize an understanding of identification and evaluation from both an archival and a scholarly perspective. Combined documentation of information from various sources (catalogues, lantern slides, trade press, lecture material, readings, related media) is often necessary to correctly identify lantern slides. Second, I propose criteria for research infrastructures to incorporate data documentation towards comparative research designs. The enormous dispersion of lantern slides over many collections leads scholars to build their own corpora from objects held in various collections, which can be ameliorated with standardised descriptors across collections. Further, new research questions tracing synchronic and diachronic dispersion could be asked with the collaborative documentation of a larger set of data, for example, assessing the geographic distribution and popularity of slide sets, reconstructing trade networks or the migration of images across various media forms. Altogether, collaborative documentation and search could lead to knowledge about the formation of canons of shared visual knowledge. Research into the dissemination of slide sets and the popularity of displayed motifs cannot be restricted to either ‘distant readings’ or ‘close readings’ exclusively, and benefits from the ability to switch between close inspections of the object as well as networked sources.