The Freeport Memorial Library has a collection of about 600 lantern slides stored in the Library’s archives located in the Long Island Room. Lantern slides are transparent drawings or photographic images that are projected onto a flat screen using a device known as a magic lantern. The slides are positive transparencies that are sandwiched between two thin glass plates. The height of lantern slide use occurred between the late 1880s and early 1900s. Like the majority of lantern slides produced in the United States, most of the slides in this collection have a uniform size of 3 ¼ by 4 inches. The library’s collection of lantern slides includes the following topics: geography and travelogues; temperance; history; song slides; religion; and education.
