Lantern Slide Projector

In addition to the collection from the Chemistry and Forestry departments, the Canterbury College Collection houses an assortment of lantern slides previously owned by Miss Marion Steven, former lecturer in Classics, and a lantern slide projector once used by the Art History Department. Prior to the use of lantern slide projectors, Canterbury College relied on display boards. While they were a simple yet effective aid in communicating visual information to students, lantern slide technology was growing in popularity and brought new teaching benefits. Lantern slide projectors enabled lecturers to show larger scale images and more of them, providing students with a broader range of visual examples per class. Due to the continued high-cost of colourised images, lantern projections were typically viewed in black and white. However, it was possible to manually add colour on top of the grayscale and produce a more aesthetically rich projection.

Despite this advancement in teaching and learning technology, there were challenges. A student of Steven’s, from the 1950s, commented, “I well remember our Greek art lectures, conducted by Marion Steven in the dark, consisting of slides of Greek pottery and architecture … Taking readable notes in the dark became a special achievement!”.

Lectures have come a long way since the mid-twentieth century. Students and staff at the University of Canterbury now have access to technology that allows visual information to be shared at the click of a button – from across the classroom to around the world. And even in the darkest lecture room, most students use laptops with keyboards that can be illuminated. Gone are the days of taking notes under the dim light of lantern slide projections.