Lantern Slides
Source Sheet No. 42
Origin of the Glass Lantern Slides Collections
The main glass lantern slides collection was begun in the 1920s by then Deputy Town Clerk, Alec Morison, and
coincided with a period of growing interest among the City Councillors in the history of their City.
Morison suggested that glass slides be made of old photographs and prints which had been given to the Council,
along with a selection of historic photos to be borrowed from the South Australian Public Library, ‘as a way of
recording the City’s progress and heritage since its earliest days’.
Many photos were copied from the South Australian Archives collection, as well as the Government Tourist
Bureau, while some were obtained through the South Australian Agent General’s Office in London.
By 1927 the collection had grown to more than 600 slides, having been supplemented by some made available by
Sir Langdon Bonython from his private collection. Many other citizens also came forward offering to donate or
loan photos to the Council for copying.
Public Lantern Slide Shows at the Adelaide Town Hall
Following a private screening of slides that Morison put on for the Councillors in the Council Chamber in 1928,
it was decided that a series of lantern slide lectures be presented to the public in the Adelaide Town Hall on the
subject of ‘Early Adelaide’.
The public screenings were held on Saturday evenings in the Town Hall upstairs Banqueting Room between
1928 and 1936.
The first screening was especially reserved for old colonists who had arrived before 1870, the slides on this
occasion being shown in the ground floor Council Chamber ‘so as to save the old people having to walk up the
stairs’.
These events soon proved so popular that tickets for them quickly sold out. The 400-strong audience was treated
to over an hour lecture by Morison on Adelaide’s early history illustrated with a selection of about 250 slides
shown by means of a glass lantern slide projector, known as a Terpuoscope, onto a large 12 foot square screen.
There were views of early Adelaide streets and buildings, founding colonists, Queen Adelaide and King William
memorabilia, Colonel Light and his contemporaries and other scenes mainly connected with the colonial period.
By 1929 Morison had managed to put together a second series of slides which featured some interesting ‘then
and now’ views of well-known buildings and landmarks, intended to show the progress of the City, together with
a fine set of ‘magnificent’ panoramic views taken from an aeroplane.
As part of the State centenary celebrations, a special exhibition of slides took place in the Town Hall on 3
December 1936; this was the last recorded public showing of the lantern slides (Morison became Town Clerk in
1937 and possibly did not have time to devote to the presentations). By now, the collection totalled well over
1,000 slides, each one numbered, catalogued, and stored in purpose-made wooden boxes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Council’s glass lantern slides collection is now held in the City Archives where it has been supplemented by
several hundred slides from Morison’s own extensive personal collection, given to the Council after he retired as
Town Clerk in 1946. These slides are referred to as the Morison Collection and, like the official Council
collection, contain slides on many historical subjects as well as some depicting Morison’s personal travels into
Asia and Australia in the 1920s and 30s. In addition, there are a small number of slides which his successor,
W.C.D. Veale used to illustrate lectures during the time he was City Engineer (1929-47).
These three unique collections of glass lantern slides collectively comprise more than 2,000 images. While not
every slide has survived wholly intact the vast majority of them proved salvageable and were able to be
successfully reproduced using modern photographic technology (only about 5% of the collection was not able to
be copied). The original glass slides have now been printed and are readily available for viewing at the Archives.
Archival Sources
Record Description
Town Clerk’s Department
Lantern Slides [General (Town Clerk’s) Collection]
Date Range
Accession Number(s)
c1845-1920s
5737
Photographs [C19th Portraits and Others Thought to have Been Used
for Lantern Slides]
c1850s-1890s
5722
Lantern Slides – Not in Catalogue
c1880 -1920s
5741
Lantern Slides Projector (Terpuoscope)
City Inspector’s Photographs of Street Trading Stands]
1927
1970s
A.J. Morison / W.C.D. Veale
Lantern Slides – Morison Collection
c1850s-1920s
Lantern Slides [belonging to A.J. Morison]
c1880 - 1930
[Lantern Slides Relating to Engineering Matters]
1930s
Further Information
City Archives Source Sheet No 38 Photographs
City Archives: Topham Mall, off Currie and Waymouth Streets, Adelaide
Telephone: 8203 7439 Fax: 8203 7336
Email: cityarchives@adelaidecitycouncil.com
4215
5738
4348, 4351
5546