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Lantern Slide - Paul Revere's Ride
1896-97
Joseph Boggs Beale, illustrator (1841-1926); C. W. Briggs Company, producer; A. D. Handy Stereopticons and Supplies, seller
USA: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Massachusetts, Boston
glass
overall: 3-3/16"h x 4"w x 1/8"d
Gift of Anne R. Berntsen
2008.023.41

Lantern slide in black and white. Image shows a scene from the story of Paul Revere's ride. A man on horseback rides past a town. The moon is high in the sky; there is a ship on the water next to the road. In the background there is a church and cemetery. In the foreground at left is a road marker. A label printed in black is applied to one end of the slide and reads, "4. - "And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark, / Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:" A label printed in black at the other end of the slide reads, "A.D. Handy, Stereopticons & Supplies, 21 Bromfield St., Boston." Handwritten in black ink is "Paul Revere's Ride."


This image comes from a glass slide intended to be used with a magic lantern, a precursor to the slide projector. With a magic lantern and slides, a presenter could create the illusion of moving pictures. Manufacturers developed slides to illustrate stories from literature, history events, or poems. This slide is one pf a series illustrating Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem Paul Revere's Ride.