IGA Magic Lantern Shows
Magic lantern shows were a popular form of entertainment in the 1890s
when Dr. Wilfred Grenfell commenced his mission to Newfoundland and
Labrador. Magic lanterns were a predecessor of the slide projector and
projected images from glass slides. The slides, which were frequently
hand-tinted, created vivid images which were indeed magical. Magic lantern
slides were also commonly used by lecturers to illustrate their talks and to
raise monies for their causes.
Grenfell documented his initial visit to Newfoundland and Labrador in
1892, and his commentary and photographs were published in the RNMDSF
publication, Toilers of the Deep. He later made the photographs into
lantern slides and used them to illustrate lectures, intended to elicit
monies in Great Britain for the Labrador mission. In 1893, Drs. Grenfell and
Eliot Curwen brought cameras and plates to Labrador Using the dry-plate process,
Curwen developed the plates aboard the mission ship, Albert. This was
the beginning of an extensive photographic record of Northern Newfoundland
and Labrador created by Grenfell staff, volunteers and visitors.
Dr. Grenfell used slides in his many promotional tours in Canada and the
United States to illustrate the activities of the IGA and to solicit funds
for the work of the mission. The lantern slides emphasized the medical and
material need in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador, sometimes to the
displeasure of local residents. While documenting the progress of mission
work, the slides also reflected the cultural values of the photographers,
most of whom were English, Canadian or American urban professionals, and the
fascination of the audiences with the exotic. This was illustrated in the
depiction of Aboriginal peoples, the curiosity of Mission workers about the
cod fisheries and a rural lifestyle, and their fascination with the winter
landscape.
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