Kautz Family YMCA Archives,

Lantern slide technology was widely used by the YMCA and the various lecture departments of national and local YMCAs during the early decades of the 20th century. Using either gas or electric lamps, light was projected through a glass image and thrown on a wall or screen. These images allowed lectures to add illustrative and often dramatic images to their presentations. Many Americans working in foreign YMCAs used this technology to help bridge the language gap. This allowed the YMCA to bring its messages of health, agricultural, and cultural education to large audiences. The bulk of the lantern slides in the collection are of photographic images, however many of those are hand colored, and in other cases the entire image is painted on by hand.

From the description of YMCA lantern slide collection, 1910s-1920s. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 644648389

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