Field Life of Bone Hunters Revealed in 100-Year-Old Glass Slides

[n2doc]

By Danielle Venton September 13, 2011 | 6:30 am | Categories: Animals





A collection of newly digitized glass lantern slides, showing early 20th century paleontological digs and the preparation of fossils for display, is now available to the public from the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the National Museum of Natural History.

Taken between 1900 and 1931, the images date from pre-PowerPoint times, when glass lantern slides were the preferred way for researchers to share images. Glass lantern slides were introduced in 1849, about 10 years after the invention of photography. They made it possible for large crowds to view images, rather than a few people at a time. Slides changed photography from an intimate art form to an educational and lecturing tool.

Several of the slides collected here show expeditions in the western United States, led by paleontologists Erwin Hinckley Barbour, J.L. Wortman and James William Gidley. Today, the most is known about Gidley, according to sources in the Smithsonian’s paleontology department.

Gidley initially worked at the National Museum preparing fossils for exhibit. In time, he became assistant curator of mammalian fossils, holding the position from 1911 to 1931. Gidley gained fame for his work on early mammals, especially horses, at a time when the evolution of early mammals was a novel topic for paleontologists.


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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/smithsonian-field-life/

[Kali]

1. cool!

forwarding

[jwirr]

2. That is neat. As the archivist in a historical society museum I found

a box of glass slides but was too afraid to take it down from its high shelf and open it. Did not want to accidentally destroy them. Now wish I had at least opened them to see what they were.

[jdadd]

3. In Color?

These would have to of been hand painted, as I don't believe color photography had been developed yet.... :shrug: Pretty cool though!!