Object title	Automatic lantern slide projector
Type (AAT)	slide projector
Creation date	ca. 1917
Creator	Charles Beseler Company (1869- )
Nationality	American
Description	Automated lantern slide projector with patented parts such as the Stereomotograph by the Charles Beseler Company, and a rotating mechanism that may have been designed by Clarence Ward and fabricated under his direction. He did not file a patent claim so this cannot be verified. The first two automated projectors at Oberlin were purchased by Clarence Ward in 1917 upon completion of the Allen Memorial Art Museum. An additional four were purchased when the new wing with lecture halls and projection booths was completed, in 1937. The operator placed glass slides in the carriage in the desired order. At the touch of a button the projector lifts the glass slide from the "carousel" and places it in between the light source and the lens. Another button touch returns the slide to the carriage and advances to the next slide. Two projectors were used to show lantern slide images side by side in art history lectures by Professor and Museum Director Clarence Ward and other faculty members. Although lantern slides were abandoned in the 1950s and 60s in favor of 35 mm film slides, and subsequently by digital image delivery systems, the Art Department still keeps operational lantern slide projectors identical to this one in the projection booths of the lecture halls.
Subject	slide projectors, lantern slides, art history
Dimensions	47" high, 36" long, 26" wide; 25.33 cubic feet
Medium	metal, glass, electric connection, projection lens
Repository	Oberlin College. Archives.
Collection	RG 30/158 Clarence Ward Collection
Related materials	Lantern slides in Clarence Ward Collection
OC filename	P3110003.jpg
Item number	378
Accession number	not accessioned
Location	Archives and Special Collections Classroom
Source	Joe Romano, Oberlin College Art Department, 2014
Sources Consulted	Bulletin of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Vol. IV, No. 2, October 1947.
Remarks	See the Charles Besemer Company website: http://www.beselerphoto.com/about-us/
Copyright	The photographs provided here by the Oberlin College Archives for the College Library server may be downloaded for one-time personal or classroom use, if not for financial gain. For all other users of Archives' photographs--including reproduction in a brochure, scholarly article or book, or other publication purchase (digital or otherwise)--users must seek permission from the Oberlin College Archives, 420 Mudd Center, Oberlin, Ohio 44074 (telephone 440-775-8014). Archives URL: http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/. Images from the Oberlin College Archives are protected by U.S. Copyright law.
Caption author	Anne Cuyler Salsich
Condition note	Cleaned and serviced in 2014 by John Lee in Audiovisual Services.