Turn Back Time Tonight at the Philadelphia Lantern Slide Salon

Arhival images of Philadelphia blow up real good at the Wagner Free Institute of Science tonight.

by Jonathan Takiff

Published Oct. 10, 2013, 12:30 p.m. ET

What did Philly folk do for visual entertainment before motion pictures? You can get a sense tonight at 6 p.m. as the Wagner Free Institute of Science (1700 W. Montgomery Ave.) hosts the first ever Philadelphia Lantern Slide Salon.

Using glass (not film) slides and an early electrified projector (newly restored) to blow up images real good, lantern slides provided good fun as well as educational insights to the world. Wagner's selection tonight will range from turn of the (20^th) century views of Philadelphia neighborhoods and engineering achievements to international snapshots- travelogue style depictions of Japanese life, 1930s peace demonstrations in Berlin, the Jewish immigrant experience and more.

Part and parcel of Archives Month Philly and the Global Philadelphia Exposition, the show also taps into the historic lantern slide collections of local treasure troves like the Morris Arboretum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Anthenaeum of Philadelphia and Wagner's neighbors at the Temple University Special Collections and Research Center.