Thank you to everyone who responded to my question about reproducing lantern slides. The following is a summary of the responses I received:
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I highly recommend you call BackStage Library works and speak with Scott
Wheelhouse. They are very competitive and have been scanning our 35mm
slides. Excellent work and very, very reasonable, and if you want the
data too, just pick your import format.
http://www.bslw.com/swheelhouse.html
Mailing address: http://www.bslw.com/
Backstage Library Works
1180 S. 800 E.
Orem, UT 84097
Toll-free phone:
1-800-316-BSLW
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We have had lantern slides reproduced in various ways at various times, using our in-house photographic services. By all means go with a professional lab if you have one you customarily work with.
They can 1) make an inter-negative and a print from that; 2) make a 35mm slide--if you want to keep a usable slide form--by photographing over a light plate onto 35mm film; 3) photograph the lantern slide with a digital camera, making a scan, from which you can make a print, and/or mount the scans as an archival digital collection for consultation.
Whatever you do, DO NOT throw away your lantern slides if they are the
only record you now have. Direct photography is always clearer on details than digital (which can dissolve into pixels) and if carefully kept, you will have a permanent record which you need consult only in special cases.
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I also spoke with someone who has been taking digital photos of lantern slides. He suggested placing the slide on a light box or some kind of back light and using a piece of black paper with a hole cut in it a bit smaller than the slide to mask it off. He noted that we should make sure to mount the camera directly above the slide and get close enough to it. A good quality consumer digital camera should work just fine.
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Lantern slides are really very east to copy if what you want is the image, and you can make excellent copies. Simply put the slide on a light box, screen around it to block the excess light, and take a photo from a camera mounted directly above it. We use a digital camera, which can give you fabulous photos if you use high res.. It will take a little experimenting to get the right settings, but the nice thing about digital is that the experimenting is free.
We use this method to photo slides for eBay. You can get a sense of the quality by visiting one of our items at <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14278&item=6158814880&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW>
Good luck!
Terry Borton
The American Magic-Lantern Theater
"A Living National Treasure" -- NPR
www.MagicLanternShows.com <http://www.magiclanternshows.com/>
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Thank you again,
Emily Rafferty
Assistant Librarian & Archivist
E. Kirkbride Miller Art Research Library
Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel (410) 396-6317
Fax (410) 545-0156
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