This 1st example of a hand-coloured slide depicts the Tudor Kelmscott Manor, “The Country Home of William Morris”, and surrounding scenery. (Click on images to enlarge in a new page and click the back button to return to the post)

Of notice are the rudimentary nature of the colouring work and the 2 occurrences highlighted in pink (enlarged below).

The section on the left is enlarged here to show how some, perhaps fortuitous, cyan tints seem to have undergone change, probably bubbling and eating the emulsion or causing it to dissolve.

The section on the right shows an area blobbed in orange tint that looks to have been dropped and/or smeared by mistake.

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This 2nd slide seems to have been created, or should we say drawn, by direct application of black ink to one of the glass layers, eschewing employment of photographic processes. Although stylistically quite of its time, it nonetheless harks back to an age when photography had yet not risen and lantern slides were created by direct application of sketching and painting techniques to one of the glass layers in the sandwich.

Enlargement of the eye area shows how expansion and contraction (conceivably due to heat generated by the lantern projector) has caused the ink to crack, resulting in an intense fracture pattern that is made evident by the high capture resolution.

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A bird’s eye view of Corfe Castle Village, revealing the architectural and landscaping backdrop to some everyday hubbub in pastoral terra firma.

And a partial enlargement of the lawn or pasture highlighted in pink, revealing what look to be picnickers eating out on the grass (the relatively etched shadows and airy clothing, substantiating the proposition of mild and sunny days long ahead of climate change).

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Finally, an example of how supplementary visual metadata was captured by reflective scanning of the tape surround and labelled areas (we decided to provide separate archival tiffs for translucent and opaque capture, but the 2 could easily be merged to provide a single visual reference in the sphere of access JPEGs).

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It’s been a pleasurable journey. I feel privileged to have had the chance to work with the William Morris Society and contributed to the preservation of this important collection.

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For more information about the life and work of William Morris, and for research enquiries regarding the William Morris Archive, please visit The William Morris Society Web Site.

Additional case study information about the project, including a testimonial from the William Morris Society, can be viewed on the ULCC website in the William Morris Case Study section.

The Maypole Dairy Cheese box: The box pictured here (in which the lantern slides were originally stored since the late 19th century) is an historical artefact in itself that will be preserved as part of the William Morris Archive. George Watson opened the first shop of the Maypole Dairy Company in 1887 at 67 Queen Street Wolverhampton. I presume this wasn’t too far from Wightwick Manor (a house that was begun in 1887 and which is filled with the work of William Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites and William de Morgan). There is a brief history of the Maypole Dairy Ltd. Company at the Wolverhampton History & Heritage Society website.

Dating the slides: In one of the William Morris lantern slide images we spotted an electrical street lamp! This may be our first clue to dating the collection more precisely (c.1890s to 1920s – there’s one slide that’s clearly labelled 1921). Other factors lend to dating the collection around this period, e.g. the variety of themes and an emphasis on ‘street photography’ or exterior views; the lower resolving power and the amateurish character of the image quality all seem to point to a ‘dry plate’ process being used to create these particular slides (i.e. dry plate was the latter photographic process used to create a positive on a glass negative, a process by which lantern slides became popularised and amateurs took to the process).

So far, we’ve also discovered that the images depict the same kind of diversity of themes that were prominent throughout William Morris’s own varied personal and professional life – from socialism and writing through to images depicting his designs and personal life.

For research enquiries regarding the William Morris Archive, please contact:

The William Morris Society
Kelmscott House
26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London, UK, W6 9TA
Phone: 020 8741 3735
Fax: 020 8748 5207
Email: william.morris@care4free.net

Website: www.morrissociety.org

Over the coming week we’ll be working with the William Morris Society to digitise their unique collection of lantern slides.

Digitising the slides will finally help to open up their access to a wider audience, who may then be able to help provide important information about the provenance and content of individual slides. It’s suspected that one of the images may even be a unique portrait of William Morris’s daughter, May Morris, and that lantern slide images of the Kelmscott House residence may be the only surviving photographic depiction of the residence; the same residence where Morris founded the Kelmscott Press in 1890, and where he died on 3 October 1896 (now the present headquarters of the William Morris Society). Other unique items may also surface as a result of digitising this remarkable collection.

The Magic Lantern was the forerunner of the modern slide projector (which, in turn, is now almost obsolete, with the advent of digital projection). Lantern slides were often the standard means of illustrating lectures during the 19th century up to the 1930s. The slides consist of two pieces of glass bound together with gummed paper strips or seals with the photographic emulsion bound to one of the inner glass surfaces and protected on the inside of the sandwich. Lantern slide shows would typically feature famous landmarks, foreign lands and personages. Already, we’ve noticed that the William Morris slide collection does indeed reflect this trend – we’ve spotted an iconic image of Big Ben, depictions of Kelmscott Manor (William Morris’s country house), as well as portraits and images of some of William Morris’s famous wallpaper designs. For more information about Lantern Slides see www.magiclantern.org.uk.

The slides were originally kept in a wooden box, seemingly adapted from cheddar cheese packaging (i.e. from the sizes of the labelling fitting the box as it stands, it seems that these were the original ‘Maypole’ cheddar box dimensions); an artefact in itself that will be preserved as part of the William Morris Archive. Prior to digitisation however, we’ll be rehousing the items in unbuffered four-flap negative enclosures and within acid-free and lignin free unbuffered lantern slides boxes, and cushioned by archival polyethylene foam to boot! – naturally the optimum protection to ensure their long-term preservation.

To ensure their long-term digital preservation: high resolution TIFFs will be generated that closely replicate the original images, i.e. archival ‘forensic’ copies if you like, which seek to capture everything including any blemishes, changes to chemical structure, fading and evidence of the original photographic processes used in creating the lantern slides. JPEGs will be produced to enable the Society to then use these images for publishing on the web as well as for educational or publicity purposes.

We’ll keep you posted about the final project outputs and any other interesting discoveries as we’ll eventually be providing a detailed online case study of the project via the ULCC website. The digitisation of the lantern slides should be completed by early next week, and it’s expected that the digital outputs will provide a fascinating insight into the life and times of William Morris.

For research enquiries regarding the William Morris Archive, please contact:

The William Morris Society
Kelmscott House
26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London, UK, W6 9TA
Phone: 020 8741 3735
Fax: 020 8748 5207
Email: william.morris@care4free.net

Website: www.morrissociety.org