Shelby Magic Lantern Slide Description

 

 

 

 

 

The popularity of the magic lantern in the Shelby area peaked

during the period 1905 to 1915. In 1905, Shelby's Noah's Ark Store

sold lanterns at prices ranging from $0.25 to $2.75 while sleds sold for

$0.25 to $2.00. Children placed magic lanterns high on their Christmas

lists from 1900 until the start of WWI with "views"(groups of slides)

ranked high as well. The "views" might include Charles Dicken's ghost

stories or "A Christmas Carol". "Punch and Judy" were also favorites.

 

A more serious example of magic lantern use was a lecture given by a

leading poultry educator, Prof. James E. Rice at the Ohio State University

in Columbus, Ohio in 1909. This night class was illustrated by magic

lantern at the board of trade building.

 

 

 

The Easterday slides were produced for advertising these Shelby businesses:

 

The Citizen's Bank (slides C, H, & I) ;

 

W. J. Higgins Jeweler (slide D);

 

Williams Bros. Shoes (slides B & J);

 

The Kennedy Clothing House (slides A, E, & G);

 

& Mazda Lamps - C. E. Hildebrand (slide F).

 

 

Where would this advertising typically be used in Shelby?

 

 

During the popular period for the magic lantern, there were several local movie theaters in operation:

 

 

The Arris Theatre - 10 West Main St.

The Orphium Theatre - 65 West Main St.

The Wonderland Theatre - 39 West Main St.

The Richland Opera House - 65 East Main St.

The Castamba Theatre - 36-38 West Main Street

 

The Easterday slides could have been used between

movie reels to promote these local businesses.

 

Magic Lantern slides uses were many:

On April 15, 1917, Rev. N. E. Davis of St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland, presented a program

at the Shelby Methodist Church illustrating the current work of the hospital using slides

projected by magic lantern. It was used as a power point presentation is used today.

 

 

Ron Easterday emailed to add that these 10 slides were purchased from Bob Skell's collection in

Wenatchee, WA. Who could imagine that they could travel the 2,200 miles from Shelby to Wenatchee.

Ron indicated that Bob Skell has been collecting magic lantern material over much of his 90 year lifetime.

Thank you to both Ron and Bob for the wonderful donation of a part of Shelby's history!

 

Additional remarks:

Slides B, C, H, I, and J (Williams Bros. & Citizen's Bank) were all produced by the same N Y company

and therefore probably at the same time. The Citizen's Bank raised it's capital stock from $60,000 to

$100,000 when the new building at 29 West Main St. was started. This would indicate the slides were

made sometime after 1911. Note there was a typo on slides C and I since they indicate capital of $10,000.

Williams Bros. Shoes store closed c 1926, so the slides were made during the period 1912 - 1925.

(Probably 1914 - 1916 when many of their ads appeared in the Daily Globe)

 

Slides A, E, and G were all made for the Kennedy Clothing House. That store was open from c 1900 until

c 1932 when it soon became The People's Store. Slide A is of a celluloid material and may be the newest,

while slide E can be dated accurately to 1912 when a similar ad appeared in the Daily Globe. Ron Easterday

noted that slide G was unique in its manufacture, being made in Troy, Ohio. He sent Troy Slide & Sign

Company information that disclosed slides were produced there as early as 1910.

 

The W. J. Higgins Jeweler slide (D) highlights the W.W.W. guaranteed ring. A very similar ad ran

in a December 1912 edition of the Daily Globe, thus closely dating this slide.

 

The final slide (F) features Shelby Mazda Lamps for Electrical Prosperity Week. Electra, the Goddess

of Prosperity, illuminated this week's celebration in 1915. Charles Edward (C. E.) Hildebrand was a

druggist in New Washington, Ohio during the period of 1900 until 1940. He could have been selling

Shelby Mazda lamps (originally manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company) in his store in 1915.

 

This donation has provided the Shelby Museum with many "new" bits of local history from a period

when Shelby and its' many new businesses were growing rapidly and exploring ways to better

promote themselves employing the "latest" technology.

 

Thank you again Ron and Dorothy Easterday for making this possible.

 

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For much more magic lantern slide information please check out a great Magic Lantern site:

 

http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/

 

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